obx ban on plastic bags becomes model for U.S.

Five years ago Senator Pro Tem Marc Basnight of Manteo crafted legislation that created a plastic bag free zone on the Outer Banks. As Catherine Kozak discovered, writing for the North Carolina Coastal Federation Coastal Review Online, the law enjoys widespread local support with very few dissenting voices.

 

Plastic bag on the beach. Almost unheard of on the Outer Banks since the ban on plastic bags was enacted five years ago.
Plastic bag on the beach. Almost unheard of on the Outer Banks since the ban on plastic bags was enacted five years ago.

“When it was passed by legislators five years ago this week, the ban on plastic bags on the Outer Banks was one of the few in the country.

Since then more than 125 communities have followed suit in banishing one of the most ubiquitous sources of litter on their streets and beaches.

“It makes things a whole lot easier to keep clean,” said Clyde Gard, Dare County’s assistant public works director. “The wind picks those things up, and when it picks it up, it goes on and on and on.”

 

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