Gig Harbor follows Kirkland’s lead, considers a straw ban of its own

Gig Harbor might be the next city in our region to ban plastic and styrofoam.

RELATED: Kirkland City Council looking to jump on the plastic straw banned-wagon

The News Tribune reports there are two proposed ordinances: The first would ban plastic bags. A second ordinance would ban straws, plasticware and styrofoam to-go containers.

“I have been asked by a lot of our community, ‘Let’s get rid of plastic,'” Gig Harbor Councilmember Jeni Woock told The News Tribune. “That’s what’s inspired me all along. Earlier this year there was a group that formed called the Gig Harbor Sustainability Coalition to ensure that Gig Harbor is green to take care of the future for our kids and animals.”

In July, Seattle became the first major U.S. city to ban plastic straws, sparking controversy across the state as to whether the ban was actually an effective — and affordable — step toward limiting plastic pollution.

Criticisms for straw bans range from the added cost of paper straws — some estimates calculate paper straws cost ten times as much as plastic — to claims that it doesn’t actually help the environment at all.

That hasn’t slowed the momentum for Northwest cities looking to follow Seattle. Kirkland recently began considering its own ban, commissioning a report to gather data on plastic straws, utensils, and Styrofoam.

A handful of cities and countries across the world have already followed suit as well, including Vancouver, B.C., Scotland (which plans to be rid of plastic straws by 2019), and Taiwan.

Locally, it’s become something of a pet issue for politicians, with Seattle leading the charge for environmentally conscious councilmembers across the state.

Moving forward, Gig Harbor has two public comment sessions scheduled in November before the new rules become official.

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