Texas justices to hear case on bag bans

AUSTIN, Texas — In a case that will determine whether Austin and other cities can continue to prohibit stores from handing out disposable bags, the city of Laredo asked the Texas Supreme Court last week to reinstate a bag ordinance that had been struck down by a lower court.

On one side are environmentalists, wildlife advocates and city officials who say bag bans are essential to managing litter, protecting animals, saving cleanup costs and limiting damage to sewers and drains that get clogged by wind-blown plastic bags.

They are opposed by retailer groups, limited-government advocates and the Texas attorney general who argue that the bans violate state law, hurt businesses and create a patchwork of rules that vary across the state. The two sides clashed Thursday during oral arguments before the Texas Supreme Court, which must determine whether the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act applies to disposable bags when it prohibits cities from banning or taxing “containers” and “packages” as a way to manage trash.

Speaking on Laredo’s behalf, Austin lawyer Dale Wainwright, a former justice on the Texas Supreme Court, argued that the state law regulates solid-waste management — trash, rubbish and refuse — while Laredo’s ordinance applies to bags given out at the point of sale, when “they are not trash, they are not garbage.”