SARASOTA, Fla. — The city of Sarasota has joined the list of municipalities in the Tampa Bay area that have banned the use of plastic bags for yard waste collection.
In a 4 to 1 vote, commissioners moved forward with the plan to put the ordinance in place. This would mean residents must find different ways to prepare their yard waste for pick up and stop using plastic bags.
Some residents are already well ahead of the curve and have been using plastic barrels to gather their yard waste ahead of pick up.
"Our neighborhood has been a compliant neighborhood and typically if they believe that things are for better or you know there's a better use of things then they'll do that," Linda Holland, a Gillespie Park neighbor, said.
Instead of plastic bags, residents can use paper bags or compost their yard waste. For those who choose to use barrels or carts similar to the ones used for regular trash, the weight can't exceed 50 pounds.
"I don't know that it's more or less convenient. I think it's better just from a personal standpoint. If I'm doing yard work, I'd much rather deal with a trash basket than I would with the plastic anyway," Holland added.
While city leaders agreed the move was positive for the environment, it wasn't a call they had initiated.
"I don't think we really had a choice because our vendor who collects the yard waste told us they aren't going to collect it if it's in a plastic bag so we had to make this move in order to be able to collect it at all," Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert said.
Last May, the Sarasota County government implemented a similar ban which prompted other towns and cities to do the same. The city of Sarasota is the last municipality within the county to make this change.
"That's just really the wave of the future in terms of not wanting to add this plastic to our landfills and we hope this is a positive move for our community and for our landfills," Alpert added.
The ordinance goes into effect immediately, but city officials say they first have a grace period for some community outreach so residents can learn how to package their yard waste. City-assigned recycle bins and trash carts cannot be used for collecting yard waste.