Commentary on Plastic Bags

I read Shashank Desai's post, Say "No" to the ban of plastic bags, on his blog Texas Politics. I had no idea that Austin was considering a plastic bag ban. I decided to comment on his post because I went through the experience of a plastic bag ban back when I was living in Brownsville. Here is my comment on his post:

"I can see why the people of Austin are concerned about this plastic bag ban. I went through the same situation about a year ago in Brownsville, TX. The city was able to manage the transition fairly well. Although it took some time to adjust to the change.

Once the plastic bag ban began, Wal-Mart and Target continued to offer plastic bags but would charge for the plastic bags. This forced many of their clients to switch to reusable bags and some retailers began purchasing paper bags.

It has been over a year since the initiation of the plastic bag ban in Brownsville. Yes, many would forget their reusable bags. Yes, it was frustrating having to pay for plastic bags. Overall the experience was good and according to the article "Brownsville, Texas Celebrates One Year Anniversary Of Successful Plastic Bag Ban" from prweb.com the city itself looks a lot cleaner.

Overall if Austin is able to handle the plastic bag ban like Brownsville did there will be minimal problems and it should be a smooth transition. Even though it seems like an inconvenience, the plastic bag ban helped the community in Brownsville and I believe it would help the community in Austin even better."

Unknown Author. "Brownsville, Texas Celebrates One Year Anniversary Of Successful Plastic Bag Ban." Article. PRWEB. Published January 16, 2012. Accessed August 2, 2012.