Cheyenne City Council scraps plastic bag ban

(Unsplash / Marissa Lewis)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Single-use plastic bags won’t be leaving Cheyenne retail establishments anytime soon.

The controversial ordinance failed 5–4 on second reading during the City Council’s Monday meeting, with Councilmembers Tom Segrave, Bryan Cook, Pete Laybourn, Michelle Aldrich and Jeff White voting against it.

The ordinance would have barred retail establishments from providing or distributing single-use plastic bags to customers. Only reusable bags, paper bags or cardboard boxes are offered for free at checkout. If a customer wanted to use a plastic bag, they would have been charged an environmental service fee of 10 cents per bag. There would have been exceptions to the ban, including restaurant takeout bags and bags used by nonprofits to distribute food or clothing.

“The City of Cheyenne has the responsibility to protect the economy, natural environment and health of its citizens and guests and single-use plastic bags create waste, pollute the city’s waterways, roadways, landscapes and harm wildlife populations,” the ordinance states.

The ordinance received a no recommendation from the Finance Committee at its Aug. 21 last week. Several community members expressed their disapproval of the idea at the committee meeting, calling it “ineffective” and a “violation of residents’ rights.”

Those disapprovals, among others, resurfaced during Monday’s meeting. Dozens of community members said they opposed the environmental service fee and were concerned that the council would create a new tax without the residents’ consent. They also challenged the idea that single-use bags pollute the city, as the ordinance suggests, and recommended that the council take steps to raise awareness about reducing litter in general.

Following public comments, councilmembers began to discuss next steps for the ban.

Aldrich called the proposal a “feel-good” ordinance. She pointed out that Wyoming state statute does not require cities to ban plastic bags, and that plastic is not the only contributor to the city’s litter problem. The Ward III representative added that paper bags, which the ordinance favors, is costly to businesses and is not not feasible for folks with disabilities. Finally, Aldrich said that the city does not have the resources or staffing to deal with and enforce the service fee.

“I just see it as not being plausible for the city of Cheyenne currently,” she said during the meeting.

Councilmember Mark Rinne moved to amend the ordinance to remove the service fee and change the implementation date. The motion was seconded, but both amendments failed to pass the council.

Segrave asked Public Works Director Vicki Nemecek if the department wanted the council to create a plastic bag ban, as implied by Councilmember and ordinance co-sponsor Richard Johnson in a Wyoming Tribune Eagle story.

Nemecek replied that this was not an issue she brought up, but said that plastic bags are a significant concern in the waste stream because they are a contamination. She added that unbagged trash creates litter, including blowing plastic papers.

“If people will bag our trash, our litter problem will go away,” she said during the meeting.

White said he supports the ordinance from a personal standpoint and he was initially set on voting for it. The Ward 1 representative had a change of heart, however, after speaking to three downtown businesses. The owners said switching from plastic to paper bags would cost them between $3,500 and $4,000 a year, resulting in higher product prices for customers. With the city possibly going into a recession over the next 12 months, White said, he can’t support that change.

“I just can’t vote for this tonight knowing that already high consumer prices might likely be increased by passing this,” he said during the meeting.

Not all councilmembers voiced their opposition to the ban.

Rinne, who is one of the sponsors of the ordinance and voted for it, said he has an issue with plastics in general. Plastic fragments into harmful molecules, he said, that are found in the air, in nature, in drinking water and even inside the human body. He understands that plastic bags are important to residents but believes they should consider the potential health risks.

“If I had the power to eliminate or diminish the number of plastic packaging out there, I would do it,” he said during the meeting, “but the only power I have is to affect plastic bags at this point so at this point I’m going to support this.”