A six-page report could cost Austin residents $1 every time they head to the grocery store.

The Austin City Council and other officials participated in a public forum Monday evening about a proposed city ordinance banning single-use bags. Under the current proposal, Austinites could be charged a fee for not bringing reusable bags to the store.

For resident Jeffrey Jacoby, the ordinance can’t come soon enough.

"I'm tired of living in places where they call themselves green, but don't do anything about it," he said.

Jacoby just moved to Austin in the last few years because he liked the city's stance on environmental and social issue, but he's perplexed why it has taken more than five years to ban single-use grocery bags.

The latest plan is to start charging for plastic and paper bags at checkout lanes in 2013, and ban them in 2014.

Austin resident Andrew Dobbs hopes the fee will cut plastic and paper bag use by half.

"There is no other waste stream that anybody in this city has even thought about cutting in half," he said.

Members of the Texas Retailers Association believe a public awareness program in 2008 helped cut plastic bag use by 20 percent. The group is against the proposed ordinance.

"The attitude of the City of Austin is the only way to address this is through a draconian ban," Texas Retailers Association President Ronnie Volkening said.

The city wants shoppers to use bags made of thicker plastic or mesh. Mark Daniels with Hilex Poly, a South Carolina-based plastic bag maker, says those options are even worse for the environment.

“Reusable bags, whether they are non-woven polypropylene, cotton, jute, or PET, they cannot be recycled,” he said. “There is simply no recycling infrastructure in Austin, in the United States, to recycle this product."

Austin Resource Recovery's Bob Gedert said he's heard from more than 100 stakeholders and thousands of constituents while shaping the phase out of the grocery line staple.

"We live in a great place, and I am happy to live in a great place,” Jacoby said. “Let's not screw it up by allowing these old, tired, dinosaur-aged arguments to win the day yet again."

City leaders plan to make more changes after hearing passionate arguments from both sides of the debate.

City leaders expect to bring their final draft of a single-use bag ban to the city council Feb. 9.

The council could vote on it March first.

You can also share your thoughts on the ordinance at SpeakUpAustin.org.