Etna council members taking cautious approach with proposed plastic bag ban

When Etna council members discussed the idea of passing a single-use plastic bag ban at a meeting in April, council member Alice Gabriel advocated taking a cautious approach. She has stuck to that.

“I’m not looking to push this on anybody,” Gabriel said six months ago. “We’ll talk to small business owners. We want to make sure small businesses are on board. It’s not something that we want to rush.”

It has proven to be a prudent strategy if for no other reason than the fact that Etna small business owners are a bit skittish about it.

“I’d rather know more of the facts before I decide,” owner of Etna’s Roadside Beer Mike Ujazdowski said. “If we educated more people, they may think it over.”

Gabriel, other members of council and borough manager Mary Ellen Ramage have been making a concerted effort to do just that. On Sept. 5, they invited all of the local businesses to one of two question-and-answer sessions.

“We did not get that many people who came,” Gabriel said. “Since then I have stopped in and spoken to some businesses, but I think there are a lot more discussions to be had. I really enjoyed speaking to the owners because it gave me some insight into what their concerns would be.”

Their concerns are many.

“Etna is such a small community,” said Craig Petraglia, owner of Kobold’s Keep, an Etna game, card and collectable shop. “I don’t have to have plastic bags, but I have tons and tons of plastic bags. I buy them by the box load. I know they’re trying to help the environment and all that but I’m just one little store. I’m not like Giant Eagle or Walmart or all these other big corporates, so I don’t know how effective it’s going to be.”

Petraglia sees part of the problem as environmentalists encouraging the businesses to stock tote bags for customers to purchase.

“So being a little store telling (customers) ‘hey, we’re not going to give you a bag’ is going to make me look like the bad guy. I guess I could go paper bag, but the thing is I already have plastic bags. What do I do with all of them? Throw them out? That’s what they’re trying to prevent.”

A little way down Butler Street, Maria Daterra, co-owner of Rear End Gastropub & Garage, said a plastic bag ban is not a business friendly move.

“I do not think it’s fair for businesses because we would have to buy products that are more expensive for us,” she said. “Paper is more expensive. That’s why we went with plastic. I know they say ‘single use’ but a lot of people, when I go to Giant Eagle, I use that bag again, whether it’s for the bathroom or whatever. I just don’t think it’s going to make a huge difference for the amount of businesses we have in Etna. It’s just going to be very hard to get rid of plastic.”

Beth Weidner, owner of Pollack’s Candies, said in her business, paper is of little or no use to her or her customers.

“I’m not in favor of it because everything that would go into the paper bag is in plastic bags, because we have to display our things in clear bags so that the customer can see what’s in there,” Weidner said. “Our products typically have pointy edges and they tear paper bags. I tried paper bags one Easter and the customers were walking down the street and the bags were tearing. So, we went back to plastic.”

Weidner said it makes more sense for her customers to carry things down the street in a plastic bag but that she is also concerned about the environment.

“Of course, we would prefer to take care of the environment, but certain things are not conducive to how we can make a customer happy too.”

Still, Gabriel makes a compelling argument for the single-use plastic bag ban.

“By banning plastic bags you’re keeping plastic from ever entering into the system, landfills, waterways etc. But it’s also about changing people’s mindsets, about making new habits and more awareness. So, it’s about bringing a reusable bag, maybe next time you’ll decline the one-time use cutlery and bring your own,” Gabriel said. “It’s about these habits that can add up. It may seem really small. It may seem like it doesn’t matter but I think that collectively if we all are thinking more about ways that we can make more sustainable choices, that can make a large impact on the whole.”

Gabriel said she doesn’t want this to be a “one way” where business owners feel it’s the local government dictating to small businesses what they have to do.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Carl Funtal, who owns Cop Out Pierogies on Butler Street, said. “Do it and have everybody do it. We’re trying to use as much paper as we can. We try the best we can.”

Gabriel said the next steps are to get more information out via their quarterly newsletter and other means. She is also looking for funding to produce an Etna designed reusable bag that residents and retailers can use.

“We will be paying close attention to how the bag ban is going in Pittsburgh when it rolls out (Oct. 14).” Gabriel said. “Hopefully, that will offer some helpful insight.”