As a young student I have many fellow peers who work in the retail biz and I swear to God, the stories I hear. So, in dedication to all my friends who spend hours in stores helping and listening to customers needs, I'm going to dish on the plastic bag ban in Austin. According to these employees, being forced to listen to every single comment or perspective of this very abrupt ban is like hanging out in the bird section of a Petsmart. Most of the what these people hear are either upset nagging about a 'huge' inconvenience, or loud praising about how Austin is saving the world. So basically a ton of loud squawking at someone who hears the same thing over and ever. Anyhow, I thought this would provide a wonderful opportunity to read into the ban and on some of the conclusions drawn from it.
I stumbled upon a particular commentary Bag the Bans by Dustin Matocha and was very interested by the writing. Before diving in, the bag ban was approved by the Austin City Council and is another city in Texas to possess a ban on plastic and/or paper handleless bags (the first being Brownsville). This ban went into action on March 1st and has already ruffled some feathers, queue the blog by Mr. Matocha. A very conservative, right leaning blog gave me the quick and dirty on the ban by me simply reading the title. Matocha takes no time at all to introduce the ban as an a veil of conservation and waste management to limit liberties for both businesses and consumers. The writer provides a picture of a reckless city council who didn't let the public vote and ignored 'negative consequences', then introduces Republican State Rep. Drew Springer who filed HB2416 which would invalidate the ban on bags. The bill is pending, and the leftist are described as using 'local control' as a justification.
While very conservative and very against the bag ban for the sake of our rights, I can understand the shock of a city as large as Austin getting rid of helpful and useful bags in an impromptu fashion. Matocha is merely a social media coordinator for Empower Texans, and I'm sure this ban bothers lots of businesses and customers, however at the end of the day this ban is something that is not a crippling handicap that the city can't overcome or deal with. Austin is a fairly environmentally friendly city and from most of my friends, people think the change is good even if it does require remembering to bring a reusable bag everywhere with them. Short story: Austin is choosing to try to give what lots of people in Austin want, litter control. Storter story: ban on bags isn't a very big deal and we'll see if this works in the long run for everyone.
