A city committee hopes that education – not coercion – will help Eau Claire residents sock it to their sack habit. The City Council-appointed Sustainable Bag Committee met for months in the hopes of reducing plastic (and paper) bag waste in town. Its recommendations, which will be presented to the City Council at 7pm Monday, Nov. 25, set a goal of “reducing and recycling disposable paper and plastic shopping bags by 80 percent” with a five-year phased-in program. According to a committee press release, “The educational campaign aims at encouraging the use of more reusable bags while moving the community towards greater recycling of plastic bags and plastic film. If certain goals are not met, requiring credits and then later a small fee would be part of the final strategy to meet the 80 percent goal.” To read the committee’s report, go to http://tinyurl.com/ecbagplan.