Gilroy
– Plastic bags may soon vanish from local grocery stores if the
city joins an ecologically friendly trend sweeping the country.
Gilroy – Plastic bags may soon vanish from local grocery stores if the city joins an ecologically friendly trend sweeping the country.
The virtues of replacing plastic bags – blamed for killing sea life and cluttering landfills – will be discussed by Gilroy City Council members Friday during a day of informal policy talks. The conversation places Gilroy at the heart of efforts across the nation that target everything from Styrofoam containers to plastic bags and cutlery.
San Francisco, which in March became the first major city in America to ban petroleum-based plastic bags, has sparked similar conversations in cities such as Oakland, Seattle and Roanoke, Va.
A peculiar set of gripes motivated Councilman Dion Bracco to raise the issue in Gilroy.
“If you drive around you see those bags. They’re everywhere,” Bracco said. “They’re blowing in the street. They’re in bushes, and I guess they don’t decay in the landfill.”
Bracco, who requests paper bags at the grocery check-out or brings tote bags from past trips, said residents have given him an “earful” over the issue in recent months.
