The Olympia City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to support a proposed Thurston County ban on plastic bags at grocery stores and a small fee on paper bags.
The council acted after hearing a spate of reasons for the ban from Ron Jones of the city’s Public Works Department. Only 5-9 percent of residents recycle the bags, he said, adding that they cannot be recycled at the curb, like most other recyclables. Many end up in curbside recycling anyway, so they get tangled up in the recycling machinery.
Jones also concluded that voluntary measures for recycling plastic bags aren’t working and that bags become litter and affect the environment.
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