City of Charlotte trashes plastic bags for yard waste

Instead, people should use compostable paper bags or reusable personal containers no larger than 32 gallons, the city said in a statement this week.

Why it matters: Single-use, plastic yard waste bags are harmful to the environment and costly from an operational standpoint.

• Single-use plastic bags emit gases and contribute to the more than 8 million tons of waste that makes its way to the oceans every year, the city says.
• The local yard waste disposal facility does not accept waste in plastic bags. That means that crews have to spend time manually dumping out leaves and other waste.

Of note: Residents who don’t comply with this will get a warning. After that, they could face fines of $150.

• This change doesn’t apply to all household trash; just yard waste, which the city collects once a week to be made into mulch and compost for reuse.

Residents can purchase paper yard bags and reusable containers at local discount, hardware and home improvement stores. Mecklenburg County also offers free paper bags at its recycling centers.

What they’re saying: People have strong opinions. Some lauded the decision and said the rest of North Carolina should act accordingly.

• Others, however, note that plastic bags are cheaper, and that the costlier bags and the fines could weigh on low-income residents.
• A few noted that Charlotte should offer free leaf pickup a few times a year, like Raleigh does.

Charlotte isn’t alone in moving away from single-use plastic.

• Charleston started banning plastic bags for yard waste back in 2012, the Post & Courier reported at the time.
• Cities like Washington, D.C., charge a small fee for using single-use plastic bags at retailers as a way to discourage their use.