Philadelphia, the sixth-largest city by population in the United States, is looking to ban single-use plastic bags – a move that could stimulate new sales opportunities for the promotional products industry.

On Tuesday, a committee for the Philadelphia City Council voted in favor of a bill that would prohibit retailers within the City of Brotherly Love from providing the bags to customers.

The bill now goes to the full Council for consideration. It’s unclear when a deciding vote might occur.

As The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, the committee green-lighted sending the bill to Council after its sponsor, Councilman Mark Squilla, compromised and agreed to remove language that would have required retailers to charge customers a 15-cent fee to use a paper bag alternative. Critics felt the fee would have disproportionately negative impacts on low-income Philadelphians.

“We get more plastic bags flying all over our neighborhoods in Kensington and Fairhill than actual birds” https://t.co/pTc7DTpJPc

— Catalina Jaramillo (@cjaramillo) October 23, 2019

Philly’s move forward on a potential bag ban came as prohibitions on single-use plastic bags took effect this week in Providence, Rhode Island’s capital city. Both initiatives signal new potential sales paths for promo distributors to explore.

Consider: As bans take hold, residents will be looking for reliable, reusable bags with which to take home their shopping. That’s a major advertising opportunity for businesses and other organizations to step in and provide free or relatively inexpensive quality branded totes and related reusable bags.

Savvy distributors will look to market this idea to prospects and current clients. Many stand to capitalize – and some already are. “It’s a true trend. I’m seeing it firsthand here in the north, where some grocers have taken it system-wide (to do) no more plastic,” said Javier Melendez, an account executive at Massachusetts-based All Star Incentive Marketing (asi/11710). Melendez elaborated on the burgeoning opportunity in a tweet:

The bigger trend that I foresee happening will be packable re-usable bags. No one wants to have 5-10 bags just hanging around in their car flying around, but 5-10 small packables that extend to grocery size, and fit in a seat back pocket - that would work. Just a thought.

— Javier (@JavierSolutions) October 23, 2019

In recent years, momentum behind bans on single-use plastic bags has been growing at the local and statewide levels. Advocates want the bags outlawed because, they say, the disposables cause pollution and litter, and are a threat to wildlife. Statewide prohibitions on single-use plastic bags exist in Vermont, Maine, California, New York and Hawaii.

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