May 5, 2012

SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Bag ban spawns boycott"

Brandon Toomey:
"Dear Editor:

I am astonished at the complacency that the Aspen community has shown with the plastic-bag ban that has been implemented.

The fact that every week council members continue to come up with feel-good pet projects such as this to make our lives just a little bit more difficult baffles me. To top it off, you smack us in the face with a tax for option No. 2: the paper bag.

Have any of our elected officials ever visited the markets in Aspen in the winter when the guests arrive? They must not have noticed it's a madhouse. I can't wait to see the reaction next winter from visitors who spend thousands of dollars for their vacations, go shopping and spend hundreds of dollars on food and then discover they will be charged for bags.

I also suppose council asked the cashiers and baggers what hurdles they would have to overcome due to the regulation. The fact of the matter is this is just one more environmental elitist idea that will have little effect on the environment. Unfortunately you will still see bags hanging from trees and blowing in the wind from time to time. So pick it up, recycle it, and move on!

Every week I take my recyclables to the Aspen recycling center, and the plastic bags are overflowing out of the cans. That's how aware our community is about recycling. A friend of mine made a great point the other day. If council wants to reduce a local carbon footprint, why not look at something as wasteful as the snowmelt sidewalks and driveways? How many of the houses in the area sit vacant through most of the winter with snowmelt running through a snowstorm? Not only would we burn less coal to power the systems, but we create jobs by hiring local companies for snow removal. Makes sense, right?..."
(Read more common sense from Brandon Toomey?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

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