Do you ever read a headline and say to yourself “I thought that was settled. Why would we even consider going back?” That was my reaction when I read that Kelly Downard wants to go back to plastic leaf bags for yard waste.
This is going to be short and sweet: Why in the world would we do that?
Finally, after years of trying, we moved The Ville from plastic to paper. We got most of our yard waste out of the landfill and into mulch, where it belongs. We lowered the amount of plastic being discarded into the waste stream. And, we moved to a biodegradable material from one that is not.
These are all common-sense reasons to celebrate the paper-bag rule, and to keep it in place. What are the objections on the other side of the discussion? Councilman Downard says that paper bags cost more, don’t hold as many leaves, and rot if you leave them out in the rain.
Well, Councilman, considering the per-household income of the people you represent, I think they can afford leaf bags that cost less than 40 cents each. And, don’t forget that the paper leaf bags stand up on their own, which makes it easy to empty your leaf sucker/shredder into them. (You don’t have a leaf sucker? Got to get one; they’re the bomb.)
This is one of those policy discussions that pretty much deserves the response it has gotten from various officials: “a huge step backward,” “a solution looking for a problem.” Plus, of course, the giant eye roll it got from a number of people.
Councilman Downard, there have been numerous times when I have agreed with you over the years. This time, I think you need to bag your proposal. 🙂
