Currently, I am not being fined when I buy my pancake syrup in a plastic container. Nor my catsup, mustard, mayo, olive oil, peanut butter and yogurt. Next spring, I will be fined if I choose to carry my groceries home in a plastic or paper bag.

Durango big-box grocery stores and the Walmart Supercenter will be getting a huge monetary boon. Every grocery bag they dispense will be paid for by their customers in La Plata County. The city of Durango will be getting an unlimited stream of free money.

I am anxious to hear of the methods the city will use to monitor grocery-bag usage, and verify reduction of usage.

Obviously, the city will prove accountability by frequent disclosure of where this free money is being spent.

What will be the expiration date on this grocery-bag fine after the public is presumably “educated” by the city?

I have been using reusable shopping bags and recycling for several years, and I am perfectly OK with it. But the approach the City Council and Ron LeBlanc have taken, appears rather socialistic and impertinent.

Rob Rietveld

Durango