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Carbondale’s weekly, non-profit newspaper
Volume 3, Number 37 | October 27, 2011
Trustees vote 5-1 to ban some bags By Lynn Burton Sopris Sun
T
he Carbondale trustees took their first step toward what some hope is a town-wide ban on plastic bags but the ordinance could prove to be less restrictive than most observers expected. The trustees voted 5-1 to ban plastic carry-out bags and charge a 20-cent fee on paper bags at the town’s only grocery store Tuesday night, but exempted “thin film bags derived from starch-based biodegradable polymers.” Trustee John Hoffmann proposed the starch-based bag exemption and said allowing such recyclable bags is preferable to banning plastic bags altogether. He said it is a way to “encourage the manufacture of a product that doesn’t choke the environment.” The new ordinance won’t take effect until May. Acting on a suggestion from the Community Office of Resource Efficiency (CORE), Carbondale, Basalt and Aspen are dealing with ways to reduce the use of plastic carry-out bags for environmental reasons. A previous public hearing on a bag ban brought out more supporters than opponents but most of them stayed at home on Tuesday night. Not so for four opponents, including Mary Boucher. Boucher, who told the trustees she shops for a family of six, lugged in the plastic bag recycling barrel from City Market to
demonstrate that bags bags can be recycled. She also had dozens of plastic bags hung on her arms and said that if the town charges 20 cents per plastic bag (which was one option under consideration), it would cost her $820 per year. “I use 20 bags, four times a week,” she told The Sopris Sun during a break in the action. She also called the notion of a ban “ridiculous.” Joanne Teeple spoke against the proposed ordinance. She said a plastic bag ban will place a burden on pedestrians and those without “transportation diversity.” Liquor store owner Terry Kirk got up and told the trustees a plastic bag ban is “ … coming my way … that’s the goal.” Jimmy Nadel, who owns a catering business, also opposed the ban and said if he switched to reusable bags such as the canvas variety, he risked cross contamination when he put tomatoes into a bag that previously carried chicken. Later in the meeting, trustee John Foulkrod, a bag ban supporter, dismissed the idea that cross contamination is a major concern. “I’ve eatcn raw chicken out of dumpsters,” he said during a passionate discourse that brought laughs from other trustees and the audience alike. “We’re the worst consumers in the world,” he said at one point, “ … where do recycled bags go? … recycling is a way for people to consume and feel good about it … .” He linked emphysema in children to plastic, pointed out that Colorado BAG BAN page 4
Ballots accepted through Nov. 1 Sopris Sun Staff Report
The deadline to mail in election ballots is Oct. 27, but Carbondale residents can still drop them off Carbondale Town Hall until 5 p.m. on Nov. 1. The 5 p.m. drop off deadline is for Carbondale only, according to the Roaring Fork RE-1 school district. Other drop off locations are as follows: Garfield County residents, the office of clerk and recorder at the Garfield County Courthouse, 109 8th St., Glenwood Springs, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 1; Eagle County residents, the office of clerk and recorder, 20 El Jebel Road, El Jebel, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 1; Pitkin County residents, Pitkin County office of clerk and recorder, 530 East Main St. Aspen, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 1; Snowmass Village residents, town hall from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 1.