Fort Myers Beach pushes to limit use of plastic bags

Published: Updated:
MGN Photo – Stacy Zech

FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. Plastic bags may soon be joining plastic straws as a thing of the past on Fort Myers Beach.

In an effort to help keep the beach clean, the Marine Resources Task Force is pushing to ultimately limit the use of plastic bags on Fort Myers Beach

Fort Myers city council members unanimously agreed to move forward with a plan to ban plastic straws on the island on Aug. 14. The fines range from $100 to $500 per straw.

MORE: Fort Myers Beach to move forward with plastic straw ban

Bill Veach, Chairman of the Marine Resources Task Force, helped lead the way in banning plastic straws.

“The big picture is trash is not good for our beach, not good for our environment and were trying to find ways to encourage people to keep the beach cleaner,” Veach said.

Possible options to help limit the use of plastic bags could include penalties for having them on the beach or paying fees at the store to use them.

Some states like California have already banned plastic bags all together. Those who forget to bring their own bag to the store are charged $0.10 for a recycled bag, an example Fort Myers Beach may soon consider.

“They should bring paper bags. I just got back from England and over there you have to actually have to pay for bags,” said Daved Gray, who works on Fort Myers Beach.

The task force is actively researching the legality of their options and which ones they could realistically move forward with as Florida follows Federal laws on this subject.

— UPDATE AS OF 7 P.M. —

The Marine Resources Task Force agreed not to move forward with a ban on plastic bags at Fort Myers Beach after consulting the legality of their options.

Florida follows laws of federal government legislation, preventing it from enacting laws on the same subject.

The task force plans to continue to discuss legality and how to ultimately limit plastic bags.

For more information, click here. 

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