Town Hall has received a handful of letters from people on

Basalt to hold hearing Tuesday on bag fee

Sports View Section >Preps OutdoorsNews August 23, 2011Janet Urquhart/The Aspen TimesA shopper pushes a cart, laden with grocery filled plastic bags, through the City Market parking lot in canada goose outlet canada Basalt on Monday. A proposed fee on plastic and paper bags will be the topic of a hearing Tuesday.

ALL BASALT Residents canada goose outlet online uk will get their chance Tuesday to sound off about Basalt proposed 20 canada goose clearance sale cent per bag fee on both canada goose outlet uk sale plastic canada goose outlet in usa and paper. If the Basalt council approves a first and second reading, the bag fee would canada goose outlet store uk affect shoppers at the City Market and Clark Market in Basalt.

The canada goose coats on sale bag fee is part of canada goose outlet new york city a coordinated waste reduction approach https://www.zoetermeerinbeeld.nl with Aspen and Carbondale called Waste Free Roaring Fork.

Basalt Green Team feels that canada goose black friday sale voluntary approaches to bags have not been sufficient to drastically reduce canada goose outlet store the use of canada goose outlet black friday disposable bags over time, Basalt planning director Susan Philp wrote in a memo to the council. Green Team is advocating a fee on single use bags, not a ban. Town Hall has received a handful of letters from people on both sides of the issue, according to copies Canada Goose Parka included in a packet for Tuesday meeting. Woody Creek resident River Morgan urged the council to official canada goose outlet charge the fee.

am surprised Aspen and Basalt have not already adopted an ordinance years ago, but I am pleased to see that it is seriously being considered, Morgan wrote.

But Basalt business owner Richard Stumpf said Canada Goose Outlet instituting the bag fee is shortsighted for several reasons. Many people re use plastic bags for trash, and to transport canada goose store items and pick up after dogs, he said. Eliminating plastic bags could result in leaving more trash out in the community because people won have a convenient bag to put cheap canada goose the trash in, he said.

Stumpf also buy canada goose jacket cheap questioned the net environmental benefit of using reusable bags rather than single use bags. Coal and oil is still used, in canada goose outlet the form canada goose outlet of electricity and fuel, to manufacture reuseable cotton bags, Stumpf wrote. He predicted that many people will shop elsewhere if Basalt institutes the bag fee.

economical impact of posing this tax will be disastrous to Basalt, unless you are hoping the revenue generated from this tax will make up for the lost buy canada goose jacket revenue of sales as a result of people shopping elsewhere, Stumpf wrote.

If a fee is approved, Basalt will consider returning 5 cents per bag to the grocers to offset their costs uk canada goose outlet of administering the program. The town share of revenues will be plowed back into education about the program and other efforts to reduce waste, according to Philp memo. The town would provide reusable bags to residents and visitors, organize community cleanup events, create a website that shares information about waste reduction and pay for administration of the program.