Arcadia Lakes institutes plastic bag ban

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -Arcadia Lakes is marking itself as the first community in the Midlands to ban plastic bags from retailers.

Mayor Mark Huguley said he wants this community to make a commitment to improving the environment and quality of life out here, and he’s hoping this small step will help push other municipalities to follow in their footsteps.

“Plastic bags are a threat to this environment,” Huguley said.

Single-use plastic bags, and tough to breakdown foam cups/containers coming from retailers will be the main targets of the ban. The ordinance said that business owners will need to provide reusable, recyclable, or compostable bags to customers instead.

“We want our businesses to prosper,” Huguley said. “We’ll try to work with them, and I think as they learn more about how the ordinance applies to them, it’ll all work out.”

There’s a bill currently sitting at the statehouse that would prohibit plastic bag bans across the state. If it passes, ordinances like the one here in Arcadia Lakes would be reversed.

Retailers will have to come into full compliance by March of 2020, and leaders here just hope it helps clean up the Midlands, and that neighboring communities follow their example.

“Sometimes small places can do big things,” Huguley said.

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