North Myrtle Beach City Council discussed a potential plastic bag ban at its meeting Monday night.
The discussion centered around a proposed ordinance to ban single-use plastic bags at retail establishments within the city.
Mayor Marilyn Hatley listed off a few reasons for the planned ban on Monday:
“Because of the health and the safety and the welfare of our community, to control litter and keep our oceans clean and our waterways clean and so forth. If we’re going to do this, we need to just go ahead and step up and do it right.”
Pat Dowling, a spokesperson for North Myrtle Beach, previously told News13 that enforcement is always a concern for these types of bans.
On Monday, council in North Myrtle Beach amended the ban plan to go into effect in 2021 instead of 2024, as previously discussed. The plan will next be up for a second reading, in which further changes are possible.
Last month, North Myrtle Beach Council adopted an environmental resolution which included a multi-pronged approach to the problem of reducing non-biodegradable plastics.
Reducing the use of plastics has been an ongoing effort in North Myrtle Beach, as other coastal towns and cities implement their own plastic bag bans. That includes Surfside Beach, whose plastic bag ban went into effect in June 2018.
Council also unanimously approved an ordinance, at its meeting on Monday, to amend several sections of the NMB Code of Ordinances to allow for the establishment of ‘Festival Zones’.
