Seaside Vacations Reusable Bag
The nation’s first state-mandated ban on plastic shopping bags goes into effect on the Outer Banks today.
The ban builds on a previous law from September 2009 that removed the option for plastic bags from large OBX retailers.
The new ban stretches across all segments of retailers.
Paper bags will be available at most stores, but it is recommended that shoppers bring their own reusable bags.
A limited ban on plastic bags (prohibiting major retailers from distributing lightweight plastic bags) began on the Outer Banks in the fall of 2009, and beginning in the fall of 2010, the ban is being extended to include all businesses in Currituck, Dare, and Hdye Counties. OBX businesses will be required to use recycled paper bags or reusable cloth bags to consolidate customers’ purchases.
The new provision will ban plastic bags of any weight — flimsy or not — from being used by any business on the Outer Banks beginning on Oct. 1. The goal of the ban is to help protect the OBX water and wildlife and reduce litter along the Outer Banks.
Beginning December 1, 2009, a new law banning drivers from texting while driving in North Carolina goes into effect. Violators will be fined $100 for typing or reading text messages while driving a motor vehicle.
North Carolina is not the first state to enact such a ban; 19 others and the District of Columbia have all outlawed texting while driving.
Retailers and merchants on the Outer Banks are hustling to prepare for the plastic-bag ban that will go into effect on Sept 1. “We’ve been trying to get ready, but it’s going to be really tight,” said Wes Gutekunst, Kitty Hawk Kites marketing director. “As much as we support that it’s going to happen, it did happen quickly.”
The legislation banning plastic bags on the Outer Banks was signed into law in June. Retailers bigger than 5,000 square feet and a stores with more than five or more outlets in the state in North Carolina will have to comply with this law. Customers will be offered incentives for using their own bags.
State Senator Marc Basnight is continuing his campaign to have plastic bags removed from all stores in North Carolina.
At first Basnight’s goal was to remove the bags from stores on the Outer Banks Counties, but if this bill is successful, then it could be a law that would be imposed all over the state.
In place of plastic bags would be bags that are made of 100% recycled paper.
The Bill to have plastic bags removed from Dare, Hyde, and Currituck counties was passed on Wednesday. The bill will only apply to retail outlets of more than 5000 square feet and with more than five stores in the state. “We sell beauty on the Outer Banks,” Basnight said. “We want people to come to our community to spend time, to see sunsets, shoreline, water, but you also see these flimsy bags on the shoreline, on the Wright Brothers Memorial.”
It seems the bill is being backed by politicians in both political parties, and environmentalists also back the bill, pointing out that plastic bags require energy to make and usually end up in landfills.
Senator Stan Bingham, a Davidson County Republican who drives a vegetable oil-fueled car, shrugged at Basnight’s proposal. “If that is what the county wants, that’s fine,” he said. What about taking this bill statewide? “Then we’ll talk,” said Bingham. “In my district they’re more concerned about a job than plastic bags.”
