Effort to Undercut Plastic Bag Ban on Halt in South Carolina Legislature

The anti-bag legislation is on pause, but industry supporters are still hoping for a victory next session.

May 22, 2018

COLUMBIA, South Carolina – Legislation to prevent South Carolina towns and cities to enforce their own plastic bag ban has died in the Statehouse. It’s one of several proposals that lawmakers failed to advance before the regular session’s deadline.

The bill stopped local governments from regulating “a bag, cup, package, container, bottle or other packaging” made of a variety of materials, including both single-use and reusable containers.

The anti-ban legislation will likely come back again in 2019 and reports suggest it could happen with a new approach: Rolling back bans that local governments have already enforced. Currently, single-use plastic bags are banned in surfside Beach, Isle of Palms, Folly Beach, Mount Pleasant and in Beaufort County, including Hilton Head. Folly Beach had a nearly 80% drop in plastic bag pollution, according to the S.C. Coastal Conservation League.

Former State Rep. Eric Bedingfield originally offered this bill in 2016 “in an attempt to stop an array of differing rules around the state, which could prove difficult for businesses with multiple locations.”

The side pushing for the legislation includes retail groups, plastic industry interests and business organizations. The American Progressive Bag Alliance paid more than $30,000 to employ four lobbyists in Columbia last year.

If the bill doesn’t pass, the cost increase associated with paper bags is worrying a number of organizations like the S.C. Association of Convenience Stores and the S.C. Retail Association. Lindsey Kueffner of the latter said a grocery store typically sees its costs rise by $50,000 in a year when its municipality bans plastic bags.

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