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Michigan Senate Discussing Banning Plastic Bag Bans
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Bans on plastic bags have made their way through city councils and state legislatures across the country. But now Michigan is the second state that’s going in the other direction. Its legislature is discussing a bill that would ban communities in the state from banning bags.
Arizona passed similar legislation last year. And the state legislation discussed amending the legislation this year to preempt a possible legal argument against the law.
MLive.com has more on the bill being discussed in Michigan:
"This simply provides that you're not putting different regulations across the state on the containers," Stamas told the committee.
He said no Michigan community currently bans plastic bags, but some were considering it.
"We have had I believe a couple of communities that have started talking about it... we felt that it was probably better to take a proactive approach," Stamas said.
Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, said on the Senate floor Tuesday her community had been working on the issue for years.
Washtenaw County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi told the Senate Commerce Committee last month that the commission had been working on the issue for some time. They uncovered the fact that the plastic bags are jamming equipment at the local recycling facility, which spends $200,000 per year addressing malfunctions related to plastic bags. At landfills, he said, the plastic bags blow away.
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