Wichita could ban or tax plastic bags

Wichita is exploring a citywide ban on plastic bags.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday for a new task force to consider how to reduce or eliminate single-use plastic bags in the city.

Members of the task force have said they’re interested in an outright ban or city-wide tax to curb the use of the thin bags. Although they’re convenient and reusable, often ending up as trash bags or cage lining, they’re difficult to recycle and take hundreds of years to biodegrade. They ultimately end up at the landfill or in the river, sometimes harming animals, proponents of a ban say.

Either option — a ban or a tax — would align Wichita with hundreds of cities across the country such as Denver, Portland and San Francisco. Each of those cities has banned or taxed plastic bags in recent years. While San Francisco and Portland ban the bags entirely, Denver imposes a 10-cent tax on each bag.

Wichita would be the first city in Kansas and one of the largest Midwest cities to ban or tax plastic bags. Of Kansas’ neighboring states, only Colorado has any plastic bag ordinances.

The task force, which includes activists who want to ban plastic bags and business leaders who would be affected by the changes, was formed at the request of several local activists who presented the case for banning plastic bags to the City Council in September.

Mayor Brandon Whipple, who was not on the City Council when the group presented in September, said he supports the task force.

“My understanding is they’re going to be looking at taking those first steps forward, creating a recommended policy to make Wichita more environmentally responsible,” Whipple said.

City Council member Brandon Johnson, who will chair the committee, said he has been surprised by the number of people who supported banning the bags in a social media poll he put together. He said the committee is a good opportunity to get community members and businesses in the same room to start a conversation about curbing the use of plastic bags.

“We have a lot of businesses that have already decided not to use plastic bags,” Johnson said. “Kroger reached out and said they would be interested in talking about it, so we’re just going to explore what that looks like and see if there’s ways to encourage businesses not to use them.”

Johnson said the group will likely meet later this month to explore the legality of an outright ban and what it could end up costing businesses and the city to implement. The group could also look at other options to reduce the number of single-use plastic bags in Wichita.

Former City Council member Lavonta Williams, who is on the committee, is a proponent of banning the bags.

“People are ready for the ban,” Williams told the City Council in September while asking for a task force.

“Change is hard, and I understand that. There are those out in the community that will say, ‘It’s going to be very hard for me to change,’” Williams said.

Williams compared that pushback to what she received when the city passed a smoking ban inside establishments that allowed children in 2008, when Williams was still on the council. She said some community members thought it would be too hard to change, but was proven in a short amount of time to be worth it. The state soon followed with an even harsher ban, she said.

“Change is hard, but sometimes change is necessary in order to help our community,” Williams said.

Also on the task force are City Council member Becky Tuttle and local activists Lori Lawrence and Jane Byrnes, along with young professional Marty Spence. Business representatives include architect Brett Prather, Sheila Lowrie of Dillons, Angela Bascue of Goodwill, Chris Becker of Walgreens, Kathy Vines of Envision and Jeff Dozier of Towne East Square.

“At first, it will probably just be a conversation,” Johnson said. “I’m interested to know what Kroger’s plans are.”

Kroger, parent company of Dillons, announced in 2018 that it planned to phase out plastic bags in all of its stores by 2025. Although all of its Wichita stores still carry plastic bags, other grocery stores in Wichita have been successful without them, such as Trader Joe’s and Costco.

Johnson said once plastic bags are banned, residents hardly notice the change.

“I went to San Francisco last year and didn’t even realize I wasn’t using plastic bags,” he said. “So many people complain about it, but you don’t notice it. I did notice that I didn’t see a lot of plastic trash out there.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 5:12 PM.