Bravo Provincetown!
PROVINCETOWN — The outermost town may become the first on Cape Cod to ban single-use plastic bags from stores and restaurants.
"We want to capitalize on our beauty without having bags in our ocean and in our trees," said Laura Ludwig, a member of Provincetown's Recycling and Renewable Energy Committee.
Voters will have a chance to weigh in on the proposed bag ban at the April 7 town meeting, where the measure is on the warrant.
The targeted bags include the lightweight type distributed at Stop & Shop rather than the sturdier versions given out at places such as Marine Specialties, a shop on Commercial Street, Ludwig said.
The thinner bags, made of low-density polyethylene (which may be marked with the recycling code No. 4), catch the air easily. And they fly easily out of landfills and dumpsters, she said.
They find their way into the ocean, where whales and sea turtles often die in mistaking them for their favorite foods, jellyfish and squid, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Although the bags can be recycled, in reality they often end up in the trash hopper since they don't process well in recycling machines that attempt to chop them into little pieces, she said.
"They tend to gum up the works," Ludwig said.
Though Provincetown may be first on the Cape to attempt such a ban, Nantucket did away with plastic bags, Styrofoam cups and Styrofoam packing material back in 1990, said Diane Holdgate, the island's public works administrator.
Back then, she said, big grocery stories had been using plastic for only a couple of years. So Nantucket simply banned the material before it became habit-forming, she said.
"Most people here preferred paper anyway," Holdgate said.
In 2013, three other Massachusetts towns — Manchester, Brookline and Great Barrington — passed similar bag bans at town meeting, according to the Surfrider Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that tracks plastic bag bans and fee legislation.
To date in California there are 67 bag-ban ordinances, according to Surfrider.
This year, Hawaii became the first state in the nation to ban the bags.
"It's happening in so many places," Ludwig said.
Stop & Shop spokeswoman Jennifer Krupski said the grocery store chain would not comment on a regulation it has not yet seen. But Ludwig said Stop & Shop representatives have voiced support to her committee, as have other local retail stores.
People will be offered paper bags at stores or they can bring their own reusable bags.
The ban would take effect in January 2015.
Businesses that don't comply would be fined $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second and $200 for a third, the town meeting article states.
"We just want to reduce the supply of plastic bags," Ludwig said.
No comments:
Post a Comment