Plastic Bag Tax
Dear Editor: Instead of a 0.15 tax on plastic bags, why not establish a 0.15 per bag reward for used bags that are returned to City Hall ?
Funding could come from the Solid Waste Fund.
This would encourage people and groups to collect bags from the road ditches and beaches as well as encouraging retail store bag returns.
If this issue is indeed driven by environmental concerns, a reward system for bags will be much more effective in cleaning up the Sitka area than the penalty presently being proposed by the Assembly.
Hugh Bevan, Sitka
No to Tax
Dear Editor: This is a copy of the letter I sent to the Assembly.
Dear Assembly: Putting a 15- (and later 25-) cent-PER-BAG tax on what is probably less than a one-cent cost per bag is outrageous and ridiculous. I am one of many Sitkans who do not litter, and I wash and reuse all my plastic bags. The store aisles are FULL of plastic bottles and containers. Those large single-use containers that hold 5 ounces of salad should be banned, as should water bottles since we have good water here. Out of all the problem plastics this country produces and consumers dispose of, why pick on the one thing that does have so many uses?
I have never purchased plastic trash bags in Sitka, and I have lived here for 45 years. The last roll of Saran Wrap I bought is probably 10 years old and is still almost full. When I do accumulate more bags than I can use, they go to the White E or the library, who are always in need of them.
With the bags ending up in the ocean, littering is the problem – people who toss them into the streets, where they end up in gutters on their way to the ocean. Let the police watch for people who are littering, and slap huge fines on them.
Let’s face it, money is an incentive, so why not have the city BUY used bags at 15 cents each, so people won’t litter, or if they do, someone in need of a few dollars will gladly pick them up off the street or beach and turn them in. A year later the city can pay 25 cents each. The city could be using THOSE bags in the dog poop boxes my taxes pay for (even though I don’t have a dog). You won’t see plastic bags anywhere! And no one will be mad at the city!
Hmmm, my guess is when YOU are paying the money, it doesn’t sound like such a good idea, but I think it’s a great idea. Let’s put it as a ballot issue, so all Sitkans can have a say in this. Let merchants charge a penny or two per bag, whatever their cost is, and let them keep the money. Why on earth does the city Assembly think that money should go to the general fund? And if it does, it should go to reduce our garbage rates.
In terms of volume, milk jugs, soda and water bottles, dish soap, laundry detergent and even chocolate syrup bottles far outweigh the plastic bag problem. Perhaps if the Assembly charged 15 cents per EVERY plastic container someone buys something in – EVERY milk jug, EVERY soda bottle, EVERY water bottle, EVERY salad container etc., etc. – then it might be a fair tax. As it is, you are singling out the one “single use” item that has so many more uses than one.
I also highly doubt the merchants want the additional bookkeeping.
I’m sorry, but last night’s article makes me mad. But thank you to the two who voted against this.
Kris Hoffmann, Sitka
