Monday, a little over a week after Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller vetoed the city council’s repeal of the Clean and Green Retail Ordinance, the city council voted 6-3 to override Keller’s veto and bring back the single-use of plastic bags.
The ordinance, which was implemented in January 2020 to curb the distribution of single-use plastic bags by banning them from the point of sale, ceased when the pandemic started but was brought back last summer. Now the plastic bag ban will be lifted.
Here’s what a couple of your neighbors in northwest Albuquerque think about the return of plastic bags.
Carla Vasquez, who lives in Ventana Ranch, said she usually does her grocery shopping at the Smith’s on Golf Course but started going to Rio Rancho when the ban hit.
“I’m glad it’s repealed,” Vasquez said. “We had to bring our own bags and saw no difference at the cash register.”
Will Webber, also a neighbor in Ventana Ranch, also usually shops at Smith’s and decided to trek to Rio Rancho occasionally.
“I’m generally in favor of anything that will help the environment but the ban, to me, seemed like an annoying baby step in the right direction,” Webber said. “I get it; the initial decision was the city’s way of doing something environmentally friendly without spending public funds, but still. If there’s hard data suggesting we were saving the planet one grocery bag at a time then, fine, let’s keep it going. I’m in favor of the repeal if only for the simple reason that it was a kick in the shorts forgetting my own bags from home and end up paying for paper sacks that came from trees giving their lives to hold my groceries.”
