EDWARDSVILLE - The grassroots organization, Bring Your Own Glen-Ed, presented a proposal to the Edwardsville City Council Tuesday night to reduce the amount of single-use waste generated in the community.
The organization was started in 2017 throughout Edwardsville and Glen Carbon with a mission to reduce the amount of harm caused by single-use waste such as plastic bags from retail stores.
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Sheila Voss, with Bring Your Own Glen-Ed, said they seeking to pursue an ordinance that would significantly reduce the use of single-use waste and the harm it causes on the environment.
“Plastic is not the problem, how we’re using it is the problem,” Voss said before presenting information on similar ordinances from different cities, states, and countries.
In Oak Park, Illinois, a 10 cent single-use bag fee was established in 2017 and a retailer survey has found a 98 percent decrees in the amount of single-use bags purchased by retailers, Voss said.
The proposal suggests an added 10-cent “green fee” on single-use bags at “all grocery/retail stores larger than 7,000-square-feet, as well as all gas stations and convenience stores of any size, located in Edwardsville and Glen Carbon.”
“This is not about Main Street. It’s about the stores where people are walking out with multiple single-use bags,” Voss added, assuring that mission of Bring Your Own Glen-Ed is not to target or hurt any local businesses.
About 30 business in Edwardsville would be impacted and 14 business in Glen Carbon such as CVS and Walgreens.
“This is a win-win-win for this community,” she said.
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