Ashley Nguyen/TTN

The bag boy at the end of the register who miserably asks, “Paper or plastic?” may be spared uttering the extra two words, “or plastic.”

The New York Times reported today that cities across the country are trying to curtail plastic bag use by charging its users.  Seattle is working on a 20-cent fee, while New York City is opting to push through a 5-cent charge through the State Legislature.

And Philadelphia may be following suit.

On Feb. 6, Councilmen Jim Kenney and Frank DiCicco revived their initiative to ban the use of plastic grocery bags.

According to a KYW report, DiCicco offered an alternative: charge 25-cents per bag.

Senior English major Scott Yorko didn’t support the idea of banning plastic bags altogether.

“Other than reuse [plastic bags] for my lunch and dirty, smelly clothes, I use them to clean up dog shit,” Yorko said.  “If there was a shortage of plastic bags in the city, there’d by dog shit everywhere.”

The proposed plan by the councilmen allows “compostable plastic bags.”

“I would say as long as the customer is aware, it would be okay,” said senior journalism major Gina Ryder, who was holding a styrofoam cup as she spoke.  Kenney and DiCicco are also hoping to curb the use of styrofoam in the city. Ryder added that she would prefer to bring her own bags anyway.

Whole Foods Markets in Texas, where the company is based, do not provide plastic bags for their customers, but still provide the alternative of recyclable paper bags.  The Whole Foods on South Street offers a 5-cent per bag discount that a customer brings in.

Yorko also mentioned that when he was visiting a Whole Foods in New York over the weekend, they asked him if he wanted a bag.  When he replied no, they gave him a 10-cent discount on his purchase.

Is charging for plastic out of line or just environmentally friendly?