In the Edina City Council’s Oct. 17 meeting, carryout bag fees were approved 3 – 2. With the approval of the bag fees, Edina merchants will have to charge five cents for single-use carryout bags. Implementation of the fees will begin in July 2024. 

The ordinance’s goal is to reduce plastic waste in Edina. The idea is that with a small fee of five cents, citizens will be less inclined to use single-use carryout bags and instead opt for reusable bags. “A nickel is probably not going to break too many people’s budgets but it makes you stop and it makes you think and consider the importance of this bag so hopefully that behavior change can add up to something more,” Edina’s Sustainability Manager Grace Hancock said. 

Hancock, Edina’s Energy and Environment Commission, and a volunteered working group, saw through the ordinance’s approval. The EEC consists of students as well as other members of the community; one of these members is Ukasha Dakane.

Being raised in Keyna, Dakane witnessed firsthand the impacts of plastic bags on the environment. Plastic bags proved to be such a prominent problem that Kenya banned them altogether. In 2021, Ukasha even traveled to the coastal part of Kenya to see the effects the plastic bag ban had on the community and the environment. During his visit, he spoke with several different people  “[Kenya’s] doing amazing… Businesses were happy [and] people were happy,” Dakane said. “When I came back to Minnesota, I was like, ‘We can do this’…[if] a growing country with limited resources can do this, we can do this.”

One of the contributing factors to the approval of the ordinance was the community itself. As a result of residents who are passionate about the implications of the fee, the working group came together. The working group is a volunteer group that consists of people who want to be more involved. By voicing their support, the working group proved to be significant in the passing of the ordinance. “This bag fee is actually a really good example of the power of residents when they get engaged with their governments,” Hancock said. 

Plastic waste and sustainability is not a topic exclusive to recent times. The initial attempt took place in 2016 when the EEC worked to abolish plastic bags as a whole, however, the state of Minnesota ruled against it. This caused the ordinance to be set aside until its recent re-emergence. Building off the earlier attempt showcased the teamwork behind the ordinance’s approval. “There’s this idea that you’re watering seeds that other people have planted and you’re harvesting crops that other people nurtured and this idea that you never get to see something wholly finished, that the work is always ongoing,” working group member Nicole Meehan said. “I appreciated the opportunity to be part of that ongoing work and to be helping nurture along something other people had started.” 

A selling point of the ordinance was its potential to pave the way for a greener Edina. “Part of the conversation with [the] council was using this [bag fees] as a way to broaden people’s awareness of how individual actions can make a difference,” Meehan said. “It’s a small thing but small things can have ripple effects.”

This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on November 30, 2023.