Pittsburgh City Council approves plastic bag ban
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Pittsburgh City Council approved a ban on plastic bags Tuesday.
The ban takes effect in exactly one year at all businesses in the city.
Customers will have to bring their own bags or pay 10 cents for a paper bag at stores. Restaurants will also have to switch to paper bags for takeout orders.
Councilwoman Erika Strassburger introduced the bill last year to help eliminate pollution and littering.
"On average, plastic bags are used for 12 minutes and then they're gone forever. There's so many reasons (to ban plastic bags) for our quality of life and our neighborhoods, for our public health and for future generations to be able to do something to clean up our neighborhoods and to just make Pittsburgh a better place to live," Strassburger said last week when the bill moved out of committee.
Strassburger said the bill doesn't take effect for a year so there's time to educate residents and business owners.