The Ellensburg City Council is withholding their decision on a plastic bag ban until they know what the community wants.

Ellensburg’s environmental commission met on Oct. 19 and decided they didn’t have enough information to advise the City Council. The council will not decide on what to do with plastic bags until they get the recommendation on Dec. 16.

During this time, the commission will be researching the effects of plastic bag bans on other cities and looking at alternatives to a ban.

According to James King, member of Our Environment and Central’s environmental club, the commission is very interested in how other cities have implemented the ban.

“They want to know how [other cities’] versions have worked,” King said.

The commission will research this and the community’s feelings towards a ban before making a recommendation.

“Our options range from an outright ban to doing nothing,” said Mayor Rich Elliott.

While Elliott personally dislikes plastic bags, he hopes the council will find a balance and encourage recycling and reuse.

“I’m guessing we’ll at least do that,” Elliott said.

While the council doesn’t need to use the commission’s advice, they plan to wait for the December meeting before making a decision. When this happens, the ban could be implemented as soon as Jan. 1.

However, according to Elliott, it’s very unlikely that the ban would go into effect so quickly.

If the council goes through with the ban, it would be implemented as a city ordinance or local law.

According to Elliott, the city would work with local businesses and retailers to adjust to the change by allowing them to use up the rest of their plastic bag inventory. This would help local convenience stores that are not currently equipped to provide alternatives to plastic.

Despite this smooth transition, Mark Mikota, owner of the local Grocery Outlet, is worried the ban will cost him. Aside from more expensive bags, Mikota predicts the ban will increase theft in his store.

“My worry is customers not using the bags and leaving with a cart full of groceries,” Mikota said. “We’d need a receipt checker at the door like Costco.”

Mikota is on the fence regarding the issue, but says he’d vote against it if he could. He sees the ban as a “bandaid” and thinks recycling is the solution.

“There’s so much plastics already in the packaging,” he said. “It comes down to the consumer. They need to recycle.”

Our Environment, the group behind the ban movement, doesn’t see it that way.

According to King, the ban would cut the problem off at the source instead of dealing with the result.

“Based on what I’ve seen in the community, there’s a good amount of support,” King said.

Our Environment talked to local businesses and 25 out of 30 said that they support the ban. According to King, “most already used paper bags.”

At the commission meeting, Our Environment had gathered around 250 signatures supporting the ban. They hope to have 500 when the December meeting rolls around.

The council is taking this decision very seriously but Elliott thinks that most of the community doesn’t feel strongly about the issue.

“When there’s a few very passionate people, it’s easy to think they represent how the entire community feels,” Elliott said.

The council wants to do what the whole community thinks is right, so they plan on taking their time.