College Student Spearheads Plastic Bag Ban
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4)- When Janell Togno was taking notes in her environmental studies class at Colorado Mountain College, she realized her calling.
Togno is starting a community effort to ban plastic grocery bags.
"It's kind of an unnecessary thing to have, you can see I obviously get pretty upset," Togno told CBS4's Matt Kroschel.
"They don't really biodegrade, so I feel like the convenience… Is it really worth the cost?" she added.
The college student is spearheading an initiative as part of her sustainability program. She is already getting support from some of the town council members and others in Glenwood.
"I just think it's the right thing to do policy or not it's just something we need to model to other communities," she said.
Her professors are proud. Especially since she's using what she learned here on campus in a real world way.
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"It's the call of our program and is the goal of our college actually our mission is to uplift our community," said Adrian Fielder, Ph.D. CMC Spring Valley assistant dean of instruction and one of CMC's sustainability studies founders.
A plastic bag ban hasn't been proposed in Glenwood Springs before, although nearby towns like Carbondale and Aspen already have one in place.
The Town of Avon's ban on plastic bags has already been approved and goes into effect next month.
Matt Kroschel covers news throughout Colorado working from the CBS4 Mountain Newsroom. Send story ideas to mrkroschel@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter @Matt_Kroschel.