{"id":1313561,"date":"2019-08-14T19:02:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T01:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=985994"},"modified":"2019-08-14T19:02:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T01:02:00","slug":"back-to-the-drawing-board-for-carbondales-expanded-bag-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/back-to-the-drawing-board-for-carbondales-expanded-bag-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the drawing board for Carbondale\u2019s expanded bag ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"411\" src=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/PlasticsFolo-gpi-072419.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/PlasticsFolo-gpi-072419.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/PlasticsFolo-gpi-072419-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Carbondale Board of Trustees killed a proposed ordinance that would have expanded the plastic bag ban in town beyond the Carbondale City Market, after hearing affected businesses weigh in.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Store owners were disappointed that their views on the bag ban were misrepresented at the previous board meeting, and took issue with \u201cunfair\u201d aspects of the ordinance.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The trustees withdrew the ban because it could create unfair competition, and wouldn\u2019t go far enough in reducing single-use plastic bags.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For now, Carbondale\u2019s expanded plastic bag ban is dead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At its July 23 meeting, the Carbondale Board of Trustees <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/carbondale-moves-ahead-with-expanded-plastic-bag-ban\/\">approved<\/a> a ban on plastic bags for certain stores within the town limits. Board members believed that most of the affected stores favored the ban or would accept it.<\/p>\n<p>During the ordinance\u2019s second reading on Tuesday, Aug. 13, two business owners testified that while they supported environmental efforts to reduce plastic, the ordinance might harm business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m all in favor of doing the right thing, putting our best foot forward, and saving the environment,\u201d said Federico \u201cKiko\u201d Pe\u00f1a, owner of Sopris Liquor and Wine.<\/p>\n<p>Pe\u00f1a opened Sopris Liquor six years ago, and has never offered plastic bags. Typically, Sopris provides paper bags or boxes to customers, if they ask.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m six years ahead of this plastic bag curve, as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. That\u2019s why one of his employees told the Environmental Board (e-board), which drafted the initial ordinance, and the Post Independent that the store was in favor of the expanded ban.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to banning plastic bags, the expanded ordinance would have applied a 20-cent fee per paper bag to the affected stores. An existing ordinance which has Carbondale City Market charge a 20 cent fee for paper bags remains in effect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast week\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/some-carbondale-stores-balk-at-expanded-bag-ban\/\">newspaper article<\/a> was the very first time I\u2019d heard about (the ordinance),\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. (He was on vacation when the PI reached out to the store.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs one of the only five businesses affected, I kind of feel like that was a lack of respect for me,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n<p>Don Boos, CEO of the Roaring Fork Co-op, previously said he wasn\u2019t even sure who the town\u2019s volunteer e-board spoke to at his store, but it wasn\u2019t him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a member of the business community myself, I\u2019m frankly embarrassed that there doesn\u2019t have appeared to have been the degree of diligence reported at our last meeting,\u201d Trustee Lani Kitching said. \u201cThat\u2019s on me for not having done a deeper dive on the questioning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heather Henry, the board representative to the environmental board, also apologized, and assured everyone that the lack of communication with business owner\u2019s wasn\u2019t intentional.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was never an intention to leave anyone out in the outreach,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n<p>The all-volunteer environmental board, Henry said, was doing the best it could on outreach, but had limited time and resources to contact the businesses.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Not just about plastic bags<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Several board members said they weren\u2019t withdrawing the ordinance because businesses complained, but because they agreed it wouldn\u2019t have the desired effect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not that I wouldn\u2019t pass an ordinance that doesn\u2019t have full support of the businesses that are going to be affected by it,\u201d Trustee Ben Bohmfalk said. \u201cI think if it\u2019s in the best interest of the town, the environment and all that, I think we can pass something even if there\u2019s opposition to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The plastic bag ban didn\u2019t appear to make enough of a difference, especially since some of the stores were already moving away from single use plastic bags.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main environmental impact when you go to the store is what\u2019s in the bag, not the bag itself,\u201d Bohmfalk said.<\/p>\n<p>Because the ordinance only applied to businesses above 9,000 square feet, other liquor stores would have a competitive advantage over Sopris Liquor, Pe\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou better believe when I start charging for my bags, some customers will go elsewhere. That\u2019s just unfair,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n<p>There was also a cultural element: Pe\u00f1a said Latino customers are more cautious about carrying alcohol outside of bags than white shoppers. If he started charging 20 cents for paper bags, those customers would go elsewhere, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Both Pe\u00f1a and ACE Hardware operator Chris Peterson said they had no objection to the plastic ban per se, if it applied to all stores equally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re serious about getting plastic bags out of our environment, do it,\u201d Peterson said. ACE is already moving away from plastic bags, and is only offering them now because they still have stock.<\/p>\n<p>Richardson agreed that since several of the businesses affected by the proposed ordinance were already plastic-free, or moving in that direction, the next step should be broader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m on board with just making it fair and across the board so nobody can use plastic bags,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n<p>The town plans to continue to work with the e-board, and potentially hire a consultant to learn the best way to begin working on a town-wide plastic ban, or other method to reduce single-use plastics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(We) need a little bit more homework. I also think that homework is on us so I think we ought to set a future agenda item where we come up with a scope that we would like,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:tphippen@postindependent.com\">tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/back-to-the-drawing-board-for-carbondales-expanded-bag-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carbondale Board of Trustees killed a proposed ordinance that would have expanded the plastic bag ban in town beyond the Carbondale City Market, after hearing affected businesses weigh in. Store owners were disappointed that their views on the bag ban were misrepresented at the previous board meeting, and took issue with \u201cunfair\u201d aspects of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-07 06:50:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}