Yes, you’ll still be able to pick up dog poop.
AMERICAN BEAUTY; ANGELA GERVASI/BILLY PENN
Fifth time’s the charm? Councilman Mark Squilla hopes so. The District 1 lawmaker is planning to introduce a bill to ban or tax plastic bags in the city — again.
Nationwide, the idea is gaining steam. In the name of environmental sustainability, 12 states and 200 municipalities have either already halted bag distribution, or are working on preemptive measures to do so.
In Philly, not so much. Squilla’s attempt will mark nearly a half-dozen times people have tried — and failed — to reduce the use of an item that contributes to the city’s litter epidemic as it turns into urban tumbleweeds.
But Squilla appears confident that this is the year. He’s got support from the city and a few of his fellow legislators, and said much of the opposition from lobbyists has died down as bans have become more common.
“This is a great opportunity right now,” Squilla told Billy Penn. “Before the end of 2019, this legislation will pass.”
No More Plastic Bags: @cmmarksquilla Proposes Single-use Bag Fee gnrcty.org/1da48Z6 @CleanWaterH2O
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A decade’s worth of strikeouts
The first time City Council debated a bill to curb plastic bag use, it was 2007.
Backing the idea were then-councilmembers Jim Kenney and Frank DiCicco (now Zoning Board of Adjustment chair), along with four others. But lobbying from grocery and petrochemical industries proved too strong, and the bill flopped.
The same cohort tried again in 2009. And got the exact same result. That’s two flops.
In 2012, activists took up the cause. A Green Philly-spearheaded petition to ban disposable bags got 1,328 signatures, and a Facebook page dedicated to photos of bags that had littered city streets gained traction.
But to the advocates’ dismay, no sitting councilmembers took immediate action. Strike three.
Enter Squilla. The year is 2015, and the second-term lawmaker is ready to go to bat for this small-scale sustainability initiative. He suggests a 5-cent fee for anyone who uses plastic to bring home goods from city retail establishments.
Squilla had support from the Clean Air Council and the Clean Water Action, and he could point to other cities that has recently implemented bag reduction measures like Washington, D.C.and Honolulu, Hawaii.
Still, no dice. After lawmakers voiced their concerns that a plastic bag fee would be a regressive tax on poor Philadelphians, Squilla tabled it. Strike four.
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