Laredo goes through 120 million plastic bags a year. The city tried to lower that number by banning those ubiquitous, single-use plastic bags. But earlier this week, a state appeals court said no.
The court rules that the ban violated the state’s health code governing solid waste management. The ruling could have a broader impact, beyond Laredo. Steve Clark, with the Brownsville Herald, says it could set a precedent to ban the bag bans statewide.
The judge ruled that in the state health code there’s a law that no community can pass any regulation restricting or banning a container for the purposes of solid waste management.
“[Opponents to the bill] were able to successfully able to argue that that’s what Laredo was doing and the judge bought that argument,” Clark says.
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– How Laredo’s bag ban is different from other bag bans across the state
– Why the bag ban was important to Laredo
– Who’s behind the challenge to the bag ban
