City Council puts off action on retail bag fee

The Honolulu City Council has again deferred action on a bill that would require retailers to charge a fee for checkout bags and ban so-called compostable plastic bags.

Bill 59 (2016) Opens in a new tab also would mandate that police enforce the state’s litter-control laws and require the city auditor to evaluate the effectiveness of the bag fee.

The Council considered two drafts of the bill at Wednesday’s meeting but decided to move the bill back to committee for further discussions with businesses and environmentalists. The current version of the bill, backed by retailers but opposed by environmentalists, would require businesses to charge at least 10 cents for reusable bags or recyclable paper bags but allows the continued use of so-called reusable plastic bags that are at least 2.25 mils thick.

A motion to amend the bill to Councilman Brandon Elefante’s proposed floor draft failed. Elefante’s draft included the same provisions for a fee and a ban on compostable plastic bags, but went a step further in barring reusable plastic bags after 2020. He had introduced Bill 59 in an effort to tighten the city’s existing law.

Business groups have maintained that banning all plastic checkout bags would burden retailers and that fees would encourage customers to bring their own sacks. But environmental groups have contended that Elefante’s draft was a compromise because it would let businesses collect revenue from the fee and cut the use of plastic bags.