HILO » Most lawmakers on the Big Island apparently prefer paper.

A Hawaii County Council committee voted 6-3 Tuesday against a bill that would ban businesses from giving plastic shopping bags to customers.

The same lawmakers are now expected to kill the measure when it goes before the full council in two weeks.

Councilman Donald Ikeda opposed the ban. He says a combination of education and harsh fines for littering are needed to curb the problems plastic bags cause.

Ikeda says a ban would punish law-abiding residents who use the bags responsibly.

Supporters of a ban argue plastic bags are filling landfills and pose a threat to marine life, which can mistake them for food.

The Maui and Kauai county councils have already passed plastic bag bans.