FRANKFORT, Ky. — Every day across the United States people leave the supermarket with a cart full of groceries, usually in plastic bags. In Kentucky, that could soon be a thing of the past.
A bill proposed this week in Frankfort would ban plastic bags, silverware and straws to prevent those items from ending up in landfills and waterways.
It's an environmentally friendly move proposed by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian. Her passion for eliminating single-use plastics stems from her eight-year-old grandson, who notices how much plastic appears on beaches and in the ocean.
“He's worried about the shark population. He's worried about the fish population. And its young kids, youngsters, who are going to drive this effort to tell you the truth,” Marzian said.
Businesses would no longer be able to offer those items to their customers, including plastic bags for meat and produce at grocery stores.
"I'm not happy with it," Cindy McCoy said. "If that's what the option comes to, I don't have no choice, but I would really would, 100 percent, love to keep my plastic bags that I get from these grocery stores."
Customers like Judy Magder made the switch to reusable bags years ago.
"I just think we have to do everything we can to help the environment," Magder said.
If passed, the ban on plastic straws and containers would start in July 2023, and the ban on plastic bags would start in July 2025.
"There's going to be some nuances that we might need to address but I think that Americans will be smart enough to figure out something that will not harm the environment," Marzian said.
To read more about the bill, click here.
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