Arlington Considers Plastic-Bag Ban

ok how many of you have been in Arlington lately and seen a whole bunch of plastic bags on the side of the road? I haven't I think the problems comes from the normal sources LAZY IDIOTIC PEOPLE. People who throw out cigarette butts (how quickly do you really think they decompose?), People who throw out the MCdonald's packaging after they finish...
ETC, ETC, Etc

While i agree with you, especially about people throwing their cigarette bud on the ground and people throwing their Mcdonalds cups and wrappers on the ground. But that being said i remember when I was younger that paper bags was the only option you had, and they weren't to bad could not carry as many and when they got wet sometimes the bottoms would fall out, but not that often. I think paper or reusables are not a bad idea. but i don't think customers should have to pay for them either.

MeNotU wrote:

ok how many of you have been in Arlington lately and seen a whole bunch of plastic bags on the side of the road? I haven't I think the problems comes from the normal sources LAZY IDIOTIC PEOPLE. People who throw out cigarette butts (how quickly do you really think they decompose?), People who throw out the MCdonald's packaging after they finish...
ETC, ETC, Etc

Ha! Dear sweet Arlington trying to set a trend... why not start with a ban on say, oh I don’t know - Styrofoam?!
Hey city counsel, see those big buildings off Cooper where all the young adults run around? BEST of luck trying to convince a college community to inconvenience themselves.
And exactly how does this work when I do my shopping in Dallas and come home with (gasp!) plastic bags?! Am I going to receive a ticket?
Why don't you get back to that pesky little gang problem you've been having, Arlington.

I remember hearing something about a company that was buying biodegradable plastic bags for shopping. I personally reuse my plastic bags for trash bags and packing material. I do think if they make people buy grocery bags on top of the already escalating grocery prices most people will just go to the next city.

HECK to the NO wrote:

Ha! Dear sweet Arlington trying to set a trend... why not start with a ban on say, oh I don’t know - Styrofoam?!
Hey city counsel, see those big buildings off Cooper where all the young adults run around? BEST of luck trying to convince a college community to inconvenience themselves.
And exactly how does this work when I do my shopping in Dallas and come home with (gasp!) plastic bags?! Am I going to receive a ticket?
Why don't you get back to that pesky little gang problem you've been having, Arlington.

Yeah, it's much better to do nothing and continue with mounting litter problems. Is your solution to have the city only work on one problem at a time until it's completely solved, then move on to the next one?
Bans like this normally result from either citizen complaints, especially from those of us who live by grocery stores or Wal-Marts and have to deal with these stupid bags blowing into our yards on a daily basis, or from budgetary problems faced by the city for things like cleaning up litter. You can bet it's not from the city wanting to hassle the citizens and businesses for no reason, or that they have nothing better to do.

Bill wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah, it's much better to do nothing and continue with mounting litter problems. Is your solution to have the city only work on one problem at a time until it's completely solved, then move on to the next one?
Bans like this normally result from either citizen complaints, especially from those of us who live by grocery stores or Wal-Marts and have to deal with these stupid bags blowing into our yards on a daily basis, or from budgetary problems faced by the city for things like cleaning up litter. You can bet it's not from the city wanting to hassle the citizens and businesses for no reason, or that they have nothing better to do.

This sounds more like a trendy ban than one based on citizen complaints. Arlington is trying to do their part to clean up the city, but going about it all wrong. Will you be more satisfied with all the paper bags blowing around instead?

Paper bags will eventually break up and dissolve especially after a couple of good rain falls, plastic bags never dissolve. or break up.

Amber wrote:

<quoted text>
This sounds more like a trendy ban than one based on citizen complaints. Arlington is trying to do their part to clean up the city, but going about it all wrong. Will you be more satisfied with all the paper bags blowing around instead?

my god, did i wake up in the cold war and in the ussr? china! who in this world has the right as law makers to tell me what i can sack my trash in or put my food in at the supermarket.this is a free country. we have more laws then any other country in the world are thay that dumb. what about the impact of paper bags.i guess some one has a tree farm. how about making a convict work picking it up and my goodness give him more the 2 cent a hour. recycal the waste put the money back in your local goverment and lower the taxes in that area. and just think i did not go to collage i wonder?

...that arlington is too suburban white trash to embrace something so positive as promoting recycling and lessening litter.....

I wish there was more education and forward thinking here...instead of ""huh? How Im gonna get my stuff home from Wal Mart!"

How sad.

I don't live or work in Arlington but I think it is a great idea. In a perfect world there would not be low lifes who don't know how to dispose of waste properly and think it is, somehow, the governments job to clean up after them.

Amber wrote:

<quoted text>
This sounds more like a trendy ban than one based on citizen complaints. Arlington is trying to do their part to clean up the city, but going about it all wrong. Will you be more satisfied with all the paper bags blowing around instead?

How about actually enforcing fines on littering? This might actually change a lot of people's habit of throwing everythig on the ground, rather than in the trash. It sure worked in Singapore.

Problem is police can find someone for littering, but think about it, Fine someone for littering or go after someone who just robed a bank, murdered someone. My point is the police have bigger fish to worry about than to worry about litter bugs, and people who litter know this.

joi wrote:

<quoted text>
How about actually enforcing fines on littering? This might actually change a lot of people's habit of throwing everythig on the ground, rather than in the trash. It sure worked in Singapore.

It sounds like a great idea. Its about time people actually start caring about the world...it won't be here forever. We need some kind of intervention

HECK to the NO wrote:

Ha! Dear sweet Arlington trying to set a trend... why not start with a ban on say, oh I don’t know - Styrofoam?!
Hey city counsel, see those big buildings off Cooper where all the young adults run around? BEST of luck trying to convince a college community to inconvenience themselves.
And exactly how does this work when I do my shopping in Dallas and come home with (gasp!) plastic bags?! Am I going to receive a ticket?
Why don't you get back to that pesky little gang problem you've been having, Arlington.

Trend? Trend? San Francisco is the first and only other U.S. city to ban plastic bags. I hardly think that merits being labeled as a "trend." As for the college kids--they would be more likely to embrace this idea than your typical person.
You are being a simpleton. Check your indignant rage and don't bring your trash to Arlington.

will wrote:

my god, did i wake up in the cold war and in the ussr? china! who in this world has the right as law makers to tell me what i can sack my trash in or put my food in at the supermarket.this is a free country. we have more laws then any other country in the world are thay that dumb. what about the impact of paper bags.i guess some one has a tree farm. how about making a convict work picking it up and my goodness give him more the 2 cent a hour. recycal the waste put the money back in your local goverment and lower the taxes in that area. and just think i did not go to collage i wonder?

Wow. You DIDN'T go to college. I would have never guessed. You're a natural genius and a true humanitarian. No education there.

Scott wrote:

Problem is police can find someone for littering, but think about it, Fine someone for littering or go after someone who just robed a bank, murdered someone. My point is the police have bigger fish to worry about than to worry about litter bugs, and people who litter know this.
<quoted text>

Yeah, got a point there. In Singapore, they don't have those kind of worries because of their strict sentences handed down to criminal offenders. People actually are held responsible fo their actions. Here, crime is way out of hand.

will wrote:

my god, did i wake up in the cold war and in the ussr? china! who in this world has the right as law makers to tell me what i can sack my trash in or put my food in at the supermarket.this is a free country. we have more laws then any other country in the world are thay that dumb. what about the impact of paper bags.i guess some one has a tree farm. how about making a convict work picking it up and my goodness give him more the 2 cent a hour. recycal the waste put the money back in your local goverment and lower the taxes in that area. and just think i did not go to collage i wonder?

We have more laws because we have so many irresponsible and/or apathetic people. For those who are complaining about the ban, what are you doing about it besides ranting here about it - someplace which does absolutely no good whatsoever. Did you contact the city council? Did you even know it was something being discussed before the ban was being planned?

Perhaps if you would take a more proactive role in government, they wouldn't seem so much like an enemy as they would be an ally. At the very least you might better understand why things happen.

was at a traffic light in fort worth the other day, and while we were waiting for the light to change, a lady in front of us that first of all looked like she should not of been eating fast food to begin with (very much overweight) opened her car door up sat her wrapper and her cup out side the door of her car and drove off when the light changed. I was just like, no wonder she is so over weight, not only is she eating fast food, she was too lazy to even walk to a trash can. When these people stop being lazy, then these kind of proposals would not even be a topic.

joi wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah, got a point there. In Singapore, they don't have those kind of worries because of their strict sentences handed down to criminal offenders. People actually are held responsible fo their actions. Here, crime is way out of hand.

Scott wrote:

was at a traffic light in fort worth the other day, and while we were waiting for the light to change, a lady in front of us that first of all looked like she should not of been eating fast food to begin with (very much overweight) opened her car door up sat her wrapper and her cup out side the door of her car and drove off when the light changed. I was just like, no wonder she is so over weight, not only is she eating fast food, she was too lazy to even walk to a trash can. When these people stop being lazy, then these kind of proposals would not even be a topic.
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If you're in Texas you can report these people at dontmesswithtexas.org . Although they don't get a fine, which is what should happen, they'll at least get a nasty-gram about their action and know people are watching.

EricDallas wrote:

Folks plastic bags are one of the least worries in this nation. This is just another government agency trying to play God with our lives. If plastic bags are bad, then we need to stop manufacturing them. It probably takes 50 plastic bags to make a plastic bottle. Why are they not banning these?
You folks in Arlington have all kinds of problems in your city, and you spend time trying to ban something that will not do a dang think to help anyone. You really need to review the ballots when it is election time, because you have no qualified representation.
Good luck with that!

If your goal is to simply vote for politicians and expect them to do exactly what you want, you're living in some kind of dream world. If you don't like it, you need to take part in the decisions by watching city council agendas, writing letters to your city council members, etc.

Yes, there are much worse problems. But the city council people don't dream these types of actions up just to harass the citizens or control the population. I'm thinking they could do much better than making me use paper bags at the grocery store (which I do anyways) to "play god" with my life. These actions are more of a matter of money - which is a serious problem in Arlington and most other city governments. The fact is that cleaning up these plastic bags, not only from the side of the road but also in sewer systems and other places where they cause real problems, costs taxpayers money. Money which could be better spent on other programs, schools, etc.