Plastic bag committee formed to advise North Myrtle Beach on bag ban rule (2024)

The city of North Myrtle Beach is looking to strike a balance between protecting the coastal environment while not hurting small businesses.

The city’s plastic bag ban is for retail establishments and has multiple exceptions including bags used for wrapping meat or holding prescription medications, dry-cleaning bags, door hanger bags and yard waste bags.

The ordinance, passed in 2022, also allows retail establishments to offer thicker plastic bags, at least 2.25 mils thick. A mil is one-thousandth of an inch.

“There are those who want us to do away with plastic altogether, and then there’s others that are against that because they use these thicker bags in their businesses and they have ordered enough for a couple years out. They also use it as their advertisem*nt with their names on it and that type of thing,” said North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley. “Those bags are thick and they’re thick enough to be reusable.”

With the city hearing conflicting feedback from businesses, residents and environmental advocates regarding the ordinance, the decision was made to appoint a Plastic Bag Research Committee. On the seven-member committee are three small business and retail representatives, one environmental advocate, one citizen, one solid waste authority representative and one city representative.

Included among the small business advocates on the committee is Frank Boulineau, owner of Boulineau’s grocery store and seven other storefronts in the city ranging from gas stations to seafood restaurants.

Boulineau’s point of view is that a plastic bag ban financially hurts small business. He said at a January city council meeting that the grocery store has switched to paper bags to respond to the ordinance which has resulted in a $269,000 annual cost increase for the business.

The lone citizen on the committee is Barbara MacKinnon, who lives in Cherry Grove. MacKinnon, who retired in North Myrtle Beach after working as head librarian for the Environmental Protection Agency, joined the plastic bag research committee because she is concerned about plastic pollution and how it impacts marine life.

“I moved here for the ocean. I very much love the ocean and marine creatures. The idea of all this plastic being eaten by the marine life, I find terribly disturbing,” MacKinnon said. “I’ve also read a lot recently about plastics generally and how detrimental they are to all life, to us as well as marine life. They never go away, they don’t biodegrade, they just break up into smaller and smaller pieces.”

Also on the committee is Becky Ryon of the Coastal Conservation League.

Ryon echoes the sentiments of MacKinnon and said she hopes the city of North Myrtle Beach decides to “close the loophole” which allows the thicker plastic bags.

“We’ve all gone to the beach and seen plastic bags littering the ground. Not only is this unsightly, plastics present health hazards to our marine life and in turn the humans consuming them,” Ryon wrote in an email. “Eventually those plastic bags break down into smaller and smaller pieces that end up in the bellies of fish. If we do nothing, a research study forecasts that the ocean will have more plastic by weight than fish in just 25 years. It’s imperative for coastal cities like North Myrtle Beach to take action to protect the beaches we love and rely on for our economy, and for our public health.”

The plastic bag rule, originally passed in 2019 was due to take effect in 2021 but was pushed back amid supply chain issues from the COVID pandemic. It took effect in 2022.The first reading of an amendment to the ordinance to allow the use of plastic bags for takeout food was approved, but the second reading has not yet happened.

“The ordinance stands as is, at this time. It went into effect October 1, 2022 (allowing for the reusable plastic bag of 2.25 mils or more in thickness). There was a first reading at the January 8, 2024 City Council Meeting, but we have not had a second reading,” city spokesperson Lauren Jessie wrote in an email. “City Council has appointed seven members to the Plastic Bag Research Committee and has requested they provide them with a recommendation on what should become of the ordinance, or if any revisions are needed.”

The city representative on the committee is assistant city manager Ryan Fabbri.

Post a comment as Guest

Report

Watch this discussion.