Tacoma: Plastic bag ban too easy on stores

Re: “Plastic bag ban bother will fade away; the bags won’t,” (TNT editorial, 7/9).

As a former resident of Tacoma, now living in Scotland, I am disappointed at the lack of thought given to the ban on free plastic bags.

Here, we have had this system in place for quite a few years, but for a period of time, major stores issued a bag for life. It is a sturdy bag, and whenever needing replacement, the store exchanges it for free. After the ban came into force, a person must pay for these bags or pay 5 pence for each.

Now the big difference: The store does not keep the money but instead donates it to charity; as a result, millions of pounds have been donated to charities around the country.

To me, this is better than letting stores keep the money.

This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Tacoma: Plastic bag ban too easy on stores."