BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s studies about the damage plastic bags have done to the environment were not enough for Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer to support a ban against these bags.

Instead, she bumped the ban with her revised bill, which seeks further study by an environmental review committee and promotes recycling.

But ban bill sponsor Alderman Sam Shropshire, D-Ward 8, said he will not give up.

“Nobody here can deny that a plastic bag in the Chesapeake Bay is not environmentally safe,” he told the city council, which voted for Moyer’s bill at Monday’s heated Annapolis City Council meeting.

Shropshire, who said further study is pointless, is considering amendments to Moyer’s proposal that would require retailers to:

» Post a sign in the entrance saying, “Did you remember your reusable bag?”

» Ask patrons at the register, “Would you like to buy a reusable bag?”

» Have a readily available stock of reusable shopping bags for purchase or free distribution.

Environmental scientists and activists agreed that seeking further study was just a cop-out by City Council members.

“There is international consensus that these bags hurt the environment,” said David Prosten, chairman of the Anne Arundel Sierra Club, a grassroots environmental organization.

“The city of Annapolis may not have done the science, but clearly, others with substantially more resources have.”

But Moyer said her revised bill allows for a broader look at environmental issues by promoting the use of materials that are compostable, recyclable and reusable.

In one year from the bill’s adoption, the environmental review committee will report its findings and could recommend a ban on any materials, including plastic bags, that are not reusable, recyclable or compostable.

Shropshire’s ban aimed to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and it relied on scientific studies conducted by organizations including the EPA.

In his campaign against plastic bags, Shropshire has cited studies claiming plastic bags are accumulating in landfills at 99 billion bags per year, and they last 500 to 1,000 years. He’s also noted the harm plastic bag litter does to marine life and waterfowl.

cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com

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