A Baltimore City Council committee has limited the potential reach of a proposed ban on single-use plastic bags – a move decried by environmentalists and one that diminishes a potential niche sales opportunity for promotional product distributors.

Bans and strict prohibitions on single-use plastic bags can potentially be good for promo, helping to stimulate sales of logoed totes and other reusable alternatives. As such, a clampdown on plastic bags in Baltimore could be a revenue-generating opportunity for distributors that sell in and around the mid-Atlantic city of more than 600,000.

On Monday, however, a Baltimore City Council committee voted to amend a previously proposed ban on single-use plastic bags so that it would only apply to particularly thin bags that are 2.25 mils. A mil is one thousandth of an inch. The earlier proposal called for prohibitions that would have barred Baltimore retailers from giving out single-use plastic bags up to 4 mils.

Environmental proponents and the bill’s sponsor, Councilman Bill Henry, didn’t like the amendment, saying it would open the door for retailers to continue offering plastic bags. While the thicker bags are technically reusable and recyclable, Henry and others don’t foresee consumers doing so.

“Nobody is going to keep one of those slightly thicker plastic bags in their trunk so they can go back next week and shop with it again,” Henry said in a quote reported by The Baltimore Sun. Henry isn’t a member of the committee that voted on the amendment.

City Council amends proposed plastic bag ban to allow for continued use of thicker bags in Baltimore https://t.co/nsEffA9jLR

— Kevin Rector ☀️ (@RectorSun) October 7, 2019

The continued use of thicker plastic bags could roll back the sales potential for branded totes and the like. Of course, it remains to be seen if any prohibitions will ever make the books in Baltimore. Legislative gridlock on other components of the bill remain. Since 2006, similar bag ban proposals have failed to pass eight times in the city.

A growing number of municipalities, cities and states, as well as countries, are considering or actively trying to ban single-use plastic bags. The motivation is environmental. Ban proponents say the bags present a threat to wildlife and cause litter and pollution.

The world produces more than 300 million tons of plastic each year, according to Statista, and scientists estimate that up to 91% of plastic is never recycled.

Statewide prohibitions on single-use plastic bags exist in Vermont, Maine, California, New York and Hawaii.

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