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Plastic bags

Plastic bag bans haven't caught on

Anna M. Tinsley Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Last updated Thursday, January 12, 2012 - 10:33am

FORT WORTH, Texas -- There's a new tumbleweed in town.

The old-fashioned tumbleweeds that long exemplified empty, desolate places have been replaced by a new symbol of blight: urban tumbleweeds -- lightweight plastic bags that get snagged in trees and bushes, pile up in streets, clog drainage systems and endanger wildlife.

A growing number of world leaders consider the bags an environmental hazard and are taking action to eliminate them.

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FILE -- This Aug. 3, 2009 photo shows clerk Allison Ure lifting groceries she's bagged in a plastic sack at the M Street Grocery in Seattle. The Seattle City Council voted Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, to ban single-use plastic bags from groceries and other retail stores, joining a growing trend among cities that embrace green values. The ordinance, which was approved unanimously following months of discussion and debate, included a provision to charge a nickel fee for the use of paper bags, to encourage people to bring their own bags when they go shopping. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

Seattle bansplastic shopping bags

Lynn Thompson The Seattle Times

Last updated Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - 10:50am

SEATTLE -- The fight over plastic bags could move to the Washington state Legislature in the coming session as environmentalists seek to expand the ban unanimously approved Monday by the Seattle City Council to the entire state.

At the same time, the plastics industry, which poured $1.4 million into defeating a 20-cent Seattle disposable-bag fee in 2009, suggested it would seek statewide legislation to encourage recycling, rather than fighting bans in every city.

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