Austin's Got a Brand New Bag

City Council is expected to approve a voluntary plan to get major local retailers to reduce the usage of plastic bags. The stores (H-E-B, Randall's, Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreen's and Whole Foods) would agree to purchase less than 1,280,000 pounds of plastic bags and recycle 600,000 pounds of plastic bags in the first half of 2009, compared to the 1,569,744 pounds they purchased the and 215,301 pounds they recycled in the first half of 2006. According to the Statesman, Lee Leffingwell appears to view this as a starting point, saying "If we meet our goal, we'll establish more aggressive goals ... If it's a total flop, we may look at a ban on plastic bags." The city is also trying to do something about the fact that very few plastic bags are recycled - the retailers in the program are going to make it easier to recycle bags at their stores and the city is going to start a pilot program providing curbside pickup for plastic bags.

Of course, consumers need some way to carry home all their future trash, and paper bags aren't much greener than plastic bags. Reusable bags are a good option, as long as you actually reuse them and don't buy a new reusable bag for every purchase. In Waterloo Park this Saturday from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., Keep Austin Beautiful will give you a reusable bag if you give them five plastic bags.