Mount Pleasant Magazine May/June 2018

46 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com | www.BestOfMP.com feature T he Mount Pleasant Town Council has passed a law banning several plastic products used for the most part by grocery stores and restaurants, but, by the time the Environmentally Acceptable Packaging and Products Ordinance goes into effect in April 2019, it might look different than it did in April 2018. Or it might not look like anything at all. The fate of the ordinance, passed on second reading with a single dissenting vote at the Council’s April 10 meeting, could be decided in Columbia, where the State House has already passed a measure that would prohibit municipalities from banning plastic bags. By mid-April, the legislation had already been approved by the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee. Under the law, municipalities with plastic bans in place by Jan. 31, 2018, were allowed to keep them. That provision of the legislation obviously won’t help Mount Pleasant, but Councilman Jim Owens, who brought the local ordinance to the town’s governing body, said he hoped state lawmakers would extend that date beyond the end of January. The Mount Pleasant ordinance bans single-use plastic bags; plastic foam cups, containers and clamshells; plastic straws; and other items. After a written warning, businesses that didn’t comply with the law would be By Brian Sherman What the Ordinance Could Mean for Our Future Mount NOT Plastic?