"I use plastic," confessed a sheepish LSA Junior Nari Park, a shopper at Kroger’s, with a tone of guilty admission. "But it's not so much due to preference as availability."

Nari might not be able to make that choice for long. Last Tuesday, Ann Arbor City Council voted to move forward with a ban on plastic bags.

City Councilmember Stephen Rapundalo proposed the ban in June.

"(It's due to a) growing proliferation of plastic bags floating around. It's in the tradition of Ann Arbor's progressiveness to take initiative," said Rapundalo.

The ordinance would prohibit stores that gross more than $1 million annually from distributing plastic bags to customers during checkout. Rapundalo said the $1 million limit serves to target the largest plastic distributors and protect smaller local businesses that can't afford alternatives to plastic.

Rapundalo said there is a possibility that the city will expand the plastic ban to include more businesses, including those grossing less than $1 million, if the ordinance passes.

He added that he hopes the ordinance will lead to less pollution in Ann Arbor's storm water system and shift people's attitudes toward more sustainable products.

According to the San Francisco Department of the Environment, it takes 430,000 gallons of oil to manufacture 100 million bags. The United States alone goes through an estimated 84 billion plastic bags annually, according to the department.

“Plastic bags are a significant problem for the landfills to handle,” said Robert McCaan, press secretary for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. “They dislodge themselves from the rest of the waste and end up on trees. There's no question that they cause problems.”

China, Australia and Italy are already cutting down on billions of plastic bags by levying taxes on or prohibiting some plastic. In 2007, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags in large supermarkets. Rapundalo said that San Francisco’s ban was an inspiration for his proposal.

Reports from the San Francisco Chronicle said the feedback from the plastic bag ban has been generally positive.

On the other hand, the city councilmembers in Baltimore have had a different experience — in July they voted 11-3 not to ban plastic bags.
Baltimore city Councilmember Bernard Young, who voted against the ban, said that the city was concerned with the price increases that plastic alternatives might pass on to customers.

“I always say bags and cans don't litter, people do,” he said.

Without an ordinance banning plastic, many Michigan stores have already taken initiative to create a more eco-friendly image. Stores like Whole Foods and IKEA are encouraging customers to use alternatives. As of Apr. 22 — Earth Day — Whole Foods offered free paper bags or moderately-priced reusable totes in place of plastic bags. IKEA's five-cent tax per plastic bag, initiated in March 2007, has contributed to a 92-percent decrease plastic bag use at the store during the past year.

LSA alum Nishi Kanukollu is not nearly as enthusiastic about the idea of banning plastic because she finds innovative ways to reuse it. "Plastic helps with kitty litter,” she said. “I also reuse it as garbage liner.”

Brian Kohlwey, a School of Music senior, prefers the alternative. “I just get sick of getting bags (from stores),” he said, proudly toting a large backpack.

The proposed Ann Arbor plastic bag ban has been tabled until October.