Plastic bags still have a fighting chance in Issaquah.

City Council decided to put a hold on its plan to ban them from grocery stores Monday, so it could rally more public interest.

It’s planning to hold an extra council meeting this April to debate the issue further.

While most councilmembers held off discussing the ordinance, several people took the podium. Only a few residents came forward Monday.

The law would ban single-use plastic bags altogether and force store owners to sell paper bags at 5 cents each.

Those paper bags have to have 40 percent recycled material, which means clothes retailers couldn’t use higher-quality bags.

Representatives from the environment community pointed to the impact of plastic bags on marine life, including an incident where scientists found 20 pieces of plastic bag in the stomach of a dead whale in Puget Sound.

The city estimates that Issaquah residents go through about 10 million plastic bags each year.

Save Lake Sammamish asked the city to consider even tougher plastic ordinances, including banning plastic bottles. Bags are higher risk, because they fly from landfills. Janet Wall, a resident, said she once chased a garbage truck a quarter of a mile, because it was “spewing” plastic bags out the back.

Not everyone agreed that banning the bags at the checkout counter would improve the environment.

“I don’t believe we have a plastic bag problem, I believe we have a litter problem,” said Katie Moore, whose family owns the local Aurora Plastics. If the ban is adopted by too many more cities, her family would lose its business.

While most plastic bags are manufactured in the United States, paper and reusable woven bags are shipped across the Pacific Ocean. They also take more energy to make, said Keith Lee, from American Retail Supply in Kent.

Reusable bags, which the law would encourage residents to use, aren’t as sanitary. Scientists have found they have a high rate of bacteria, he said.

So far, grocery groups have been supportive. The 5 cent charge for the paper bags helps the stores recover costs.

Stores have tried education, stickers on the doors and signs in the parking lots, and they haven’t been able to get customers to switch to reusable bags, said Holly Chisa with the Northwest Grocery Association.

However, not all businesses are as supportive, said Eileen Barber, a city councilmember.

“I heard over and over again that the impact of this ordinance would be huge on their business,” she said, after agreeing to give the issue more time. “The more I dig, the more I understand it, the more questions I have.”