City Council is taking up a resolution Thursday encouraging local stores to keep honoring the city’s “bag ban.” It’s the latest response to a state Supreme Court ruling this year that found Texas cities and towns could not enforce regulations of single-use plastic bags. After the ruling, a lot of people in Austin wondered if […]
City of Austin bag ban
This 2013 ordinance prohibited single-use plastic bags in the city.
Posted inAustin
With plastic bag ban in the trash, Austin pushes campaign on reducing waste
Austin says it is still committed to reducing plastic waste despite a Texas Supreme Court ruling last month that forced it to end its ban on single-use plastic bags. The city says it’s continuing efforts toward its Zero Waste goal, a plan by the City Council to keep 90 percent of discarded materials out of […]
Posted inAustin
Will Austin stores restock single-use plastic bags now that the city’s ban is lifted?
The city of Austin says it will end a ban on free single-use plastic bags at stores and restaurants. It’s a response to a state Supreme Court ruling against a similar ban in Laredo. But repealing the ordinance, commonly known as the “bag ban,” might not mean every store will start handing them out again. […]
Posted inEnvironment
Plastic bag ban working to an extent, says report
Austin’s single-use bag ordinance is helping residents reduce overall consumption by about 197 million single-use bags per year, but it has had unintended consequences including an increase in the number of thicker reusable bags in the recycling stream. That’s according to a report that Austin Resource Recovery Department Research Associate Aaron Waters presented to the […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Council looks back at 84th Legislative Session
At the conclusion of a Texas Legislative Session, Austin must inevitably sit back and lick its wounds. According to Interim Intergovernmental Relations Officer Karen Kennard, however, the city sustained far fewer direct blows to its local control this time around than it could have. During a legislative briefing at a City Council work session on […]
Posted inCity Hall, Environment, Local Politics, Resources, Texas State Legislature
City orders study on bag ban that state may toss
Amid concerns that state leadership will take steps to limit city ordinances such as Austin’s plastic bag ban, the Zero Waste Advisory Commission has instructed city staff to study the ban in time to send the results to the state legislature. The commission unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday requesting that the Austin Resource Recovery Department […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local Politics
AG’s opinion could revive battle over bag ban
A Texas attorney general’s opinion issued late Friday could revive a long-running battle over the banning of single-use plastic bags from stores in Austin and a handful of other cities in Texas. An opinion signed by Attorney General Greg Abbott states that an ordinance like the one in effect in Austin could be in violation […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local Politics
Spurred by retailers, lawmaker seeks Attorney General opinion on bag ban
Just barely past the one-year-anniversary of Austin’s law banning single-use plastic bags, Texas business interests are taking another shot at it, this time seeking an Attorney General’s opinion on whether such bans violate state statutes. The opinion was requested by State Rep. Dan Flynn, a conservative Republican from northeast Texas, on behalf of the […]