Three years after city councilors (actually at the time they were aldermen) approved a ban on plastic bags from supermarkets and other large retail stores, a group of eight councilors want to you to pay a dime for each paper bag you receive while banning plastic bags from stores of all sizes.
Amendments to the plastic bag ordinance COUNCILORS LEARY, NORTON, AUCHINCLOSS, BROUSAL GLASER, DANBERG, KALIS, MARKIEWICZ, proposing amendments to Chapter 12, Section 71. Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance to add a 10 cent fee for paper bags provided at point of sale, eliminate the small business exemption for retail space under 3,500 square feet, and update the definition of “reusable bag.”
The proposal will likely be on the Program & Services Committee agenda for Feb 7 but, of course, you can discuss it now in the comments section.
Hate it!
For the love of God….can these people focus their attention on SERIOUS City issues and leave this nonsense alone. There are far bigger issues to tackle than a price tag on paper (biodegradable) bags.
I’m all for reducing plastic bag use and encouraging the use of reusable bags. But the next step should be on the state level, not added local restrictions.
Presently we have a miss-mash of different bans in different municipalities. That’s challenging for merchants and confusing for consumers.
This legislation belongs on Beacon Hill.
I love the idea of encouraging re-usable bags, but I don’t think punitive methods are the way to go. And to Greg’s point, a more unified regional stance on some of these items will be easier to manage (especially for retailers)
Hello
I love this proposal and am fully supportive of it. 61 local communities in MA already have laws supporting the reduction of plastic bag usage. Cambridge is currently charging 10 cents/bag. This is a standard practice in Europe. Plastic bags are Horrible for the environment. They add to the millions of pounds of plastic detritus in our oceans. They poison our marine animals. Please search images of plastic bags and wildlife to see the horrifying images. They poison our marine food source. Plastic bag production emanates toxic chemicals in the air that we all breathe day in and day out, even here in Newton. For the haters, I would encourage people to get educated on the subject. In this age of “fake news”, we must agree as a community to respect facts, and the fact is that we need to reduce plastic bag usage in Newton and the world. I fully support this proposal. Love it !
If 61 Massachusetts communities already have bans why not organize the legislators, environmentalists and other believers in those towns to fight for a state wide ban?
I’d enthusiastically support that.
Vivek, this would be for paper bags. Plastic bags were banned in Newton in 2015, with an exception for small businesses.
More craziness. Let’s tackle the bigger issues.
In 2015 people said the plastic bag ban was ridiculous and that the city council should focus on “serious issues”. Now every community in sight is following suit and plastic bags are slowly disappearing. I’m proud to live in a community that leads on those issues, and hope this new proposal passes.
Councilors, next on your agenda: plastic bottles!
Sounds good to me, but I also agree this needs to be a Beacon Hill thing very soon… I am also sorry but plastic pollution in our waterways is a big deal for me and it should be for you. I bike along the river every day and see bags of all sorts, I try to pick up a couple every day. I do the Newton Serves clean up in Cheesecake Brook every year and pull out lots of bags from the muck. True, some come in from other communities up river for sure, but plastic pollution is a very big deal, especially when these products start breaking down, because they don’t break down to oil, they break down to smaller plastics which get ingested and build up in aquatic lifeforms which we then eat. So, are there more important things locally? Maybe, but this is a pretty darn big issue and if we have a chance to tackle it, we need to do so.
Why stop at paperbags? I’m sure all the spam mail/magazines I receive far exceed the amount wasted on paper bags.
How about a tax on any Newton resident who owns a car, the amount of CO2 saved would be more beneficial.
While, they are at it.. why not double the water rates? Newton resident would save millions of gallons.. imagine flushing the toilet just twice a day to save money (and the environment)
Joking aside, I would rather they spend their time how to bring businesses into Newton to strengthen our tax base
Actually, I would love to see some junk mail legislation but that wouldn’t be something done at the city level.
One way to cut down on paper waste in Newton would be for people to opt-in to receiving the TAB instead of receiving them automatically. How many TABs get thrown away/recycled without being opened each week?
Omg, the tab… total waste given 90% of ppl are online. And it’s usually wrapped in a plastic bag to boot!
If ever we needed the thumbs down function enabled
Great idea from an environmental standpoint though one could worry about the regressive nature of the tax on some residents who might have limited options. Wonder if you could reverse it to provide a financial incentive to people who don’t use a bag, or bring their own.
Stop with the bags! Make it a personal choice. I use my canvas bags, but I still want my chicken and meat NOT in a canvas bag due to contamination.
I elected these officials to navigate some really tough issues ahead of us:
Health care costs for city employees
Pension – securing it
Contracts with many unions
Smart development
Smart Newton transportation
Making Newton a safe city
Replacing aging pipes, streets, etc.
Visioning what buildings are replaced and when and how to pay for them
A new senior center
School start times (I know that they don’t control this but they can apply pressure)
Smart parking including revisiting restrictions and stickers where needed
Making great village centers vibrant
Please stop with the plastic and paper bag controls. Please use the time to envision a greater Newton.
Putting a fee on papers bags does not need to take time away from other important issues in our community. Please consider this… when local CVS and Walgreens stores were recently surveyed, it was revealed that EACH STORE gives out anywhere from 3,000 -6,000 paper bags PER WEEK to customers! Perhaps that is not a concern to some, but it is to people who care about reducing waste and benefiting our environment. If the majority of of people would voluntarily use reusable bags when they shop, we wouldn’t need a fee on paper bags. And you may wish that legislation happen on the state level, however that will not be a realistic option for at least several years to come.
Hi Marcia: Please don’t presume that people who are not excited about this don’t care about our rivers, streams or environment in general or even need to be convinced that this is a bonafide problem. A hodgepodge of different rules and fees from one municipality to the next is not good public policy.
Every step forward in combating the waste in inherent in our commercial businesses (how many of them recycle?) is a step forward. Lots of little steps add up. This is a legitimate topic of discussion and just one edge of the larger issues related to environmental protection.
10 cents seems like a small price to pay to try to change habits.
To me bringing your own bag (BYOB) and re-usable containers (for meat, etc) is one small aspect of someone taking their responsibility to deal with our climate crisis seriously. We need trees and properly managed soil and water to absorb carbon. We don’t want our rubbish in landfills and our oceans; this kills birds, animals, fish and necessary microbes. China stopped taking much of our and EU’s recycled rubbish as of Jan 1; this has left recycling companies like one in Westborough, MA, with 200 tractor trailer loads of recycled materials with no place to go.
Making and remaking stuff that does not last long is spewing too much carbon dioxide and lethal chemicals into our world and speeding the warming process with increasing disastrous weather. I think towns need to look at our environmental problems more comprehensively and consider ways to encourage all of us to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We are all in this together so need to do our part. In the meanwhile, 10 cents is a small price to pay for a bag when you can BYOB.
This is a good way to implement one instance of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Even the 5¢ rebate Whole Foods offers if you bring your own bag is a good reminder for me to do just that. And it’s painless. By all means, charge a dime for a bag. It will save many thousands of paper bags. And if you forget to bring your own bag sometimes, it’s not like you’re gonna be jailed for it. It’s just ten cents.
Greg, I appreciate your reply and agree it would be best for Massachusetts to have uniform rules and fees. Perhaps Newton’s state legislators will weigh in on the potential for state-wide solutions and how soon that might happen?
Small minds addressing small issues
Insanity… How long til the 10 cent per square of toilet paper tax is being considered? Lets ban toilets altogether and have community buckets the city can pick up each week along with the other recycling bins and food waste bins…
Damn, just when I was getting accustomed to using the paper bags as a convenient interim storage container for recycling products! But I don’t need an extra dollar going to Star or Wegmans each time I shop (they often double bag), so I am going to have to remember to use one of the dusty reusable bags my wife keeps around the house.
I also use the paper bags for recycling storage. I used to also give extra bags to my kids elementary school teacher who needed them to send kids’ artwork home. Maybe the next step for the City Council will be to reduce the paper used in school art rooms
No,no,no.
The plastic bag ban is fine. I almost always use my reusable bags at the grocery. But sometimes you just need the paper bag.., sometimes you forget. And the paper bags get reused around the house to take out the newspapers etc. spend time on something more productive.
This kind of dialogue is why I so admire the city and citizens of Newton. I scrolled through many well-stated points and thoughtful responses and although my username puts me at risk for an assault of Newton nativism, I want to add my two cents:
I surveyed 6 people/households. the median amount of bags used (including double bags) per week was 6. Using that figure, if one was to be taxed on EVERY bag he or she used it would cost $2.40 per week. For those of us who live on fixed incomes or are environmentally minded, it makes sense to think ahead and bring a reusable. With that stated, it is my opinion that we should be able to support something that will provide tax revenue for Newton’s much needed infrastructure investments for the cost of half a cup of coffee per week.
Progressives think of Newton as a “city upon a hill” when it comes to this type of forward-thinking policy. Bottom line is that most of us would only notice a bag tax if we went out of our way to study our grocery receipts, the benefits to the city should outweigh the cost to individuals, and THAT type of policy initiative and THIS type of discussion are big reasons why people love living in Newton and seldom move away.
*$2.40 per month
*The cost of half a cup of coffee per month
This proposal was docketed by seven city councilors, most of whom are regular participants on Village 14. I’d be interested in hearing from the docketers why they believe a paper bag fee is necessary and why they feel the small merchant exemption needs to be lifted.
And please don’t tell us why we should be using less plastic and paper, or how these things are bad for our environment, we understand that. Tell us why you believe you need to tax consumers and place an added burden on our small business owners to get there.
@Brookliner– My interpretation of this amendment to Newton’s plastic bag ordinance, is that the bag fee goes to the retailer not the city. The Councilors supporting the amendment are handing higher profits to huge companies like Walgreens and Star Market, at the expense of the people whose interests they were elected to represent. Although it may seem like pennies, it adds up to big dollars. This amendment will directly contribute to making Newton less affordable for people who are on the bubble of affordability.
i’ve worked in retail all my life. if people are going to be forced to bring in their own bags they should bag their own product. Alot of bags people bring in for us to use to bag their merchandise is absolutely disgusting….. alot of times their reusable bags have NEVER been washed and now i might be forced to handle the contaminated bags.
I went into this issue open minded and on the fence. After reading all the posts, I have to agree that the councilors should be concerned about this issue until the state catches up with the times. It’s not enough to say we’re a city that cares about the environment, we have to also take action. We need to talk the talk AND walk the walk. Otherwise, we’re just hypocrites.
I was pleasantly surprised the comment sentiment on this topic wasn’t strongly negative….perhaps there is some hope yet. I have no patience or tolerance anymore for people who are clearly on the wrong side of these issues. Any small thing, like a 10-cents per bag fee, that encourage folks to reduce consumption and potentially encourages other communities to follow suit is a good thing. Anyone who gets bent out of shape by this proposal needs to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. This is a far more positive, productive, and tangible action by the city council than delving into the horror show that is national politics.
City Councilors are free to introduce any legislation they want. That’s their job. So if they want to nickel and dime the public to death with a bag fee, have at it. But if they pass this legislation that financially benefits some of the largest retailers in the city, the public deserves to know that none of those elected officials would benefit personally by holding stock in any of those companies. I’d also be very interested in knowing if any of the City Councilors hold stock in Waste Management. Respectfully, I think the sponsors of this amendment should release their tax returns.
Though the current ordinance has been effective in reducing plastic bag use at point of sale, it has largely shifted retailers to simply substitute paper bags for plastic bags and has not been as effective in encouraging re-usable bag use. Paper is easily recyclable and biodegradable, but it still has an environmental impact. A fee on paper has shown to be highly effective in changing consumer behaviors. Under the proposed ordinance, consumers will have the option of providing their own bags or paying a minimum of ten cents at checkout for a paper bag or a reusable bag. Both Cambridge and Boston have instituted similar ordinances.
I would make a big push to give free reusable bags to seniors and people for whom the additional cost could pose a burden, and allow time and flexibility for stores to use up their inventory of plastic bags. The retailer keeps the fee and in Cambridge, some stores have donated the proceeds to charity.
The City of Newton’s 2017 Sustainable Materials Management report provides a framework for guiding our policies. The new proposals are a continuation of the process to move us towards a “zero waste” goal.
We are not only talking about the negative impacts of our excessive use of non-biodegradable plastic bags, but our culture consumerism and single use. Eighty percent of what we produce is used once and thrown away. Sixty percent of the earth’s ecosystems are degraded and used unsustainably. The oceans are becoming a plastic chowder and a tiny plastic particles are entering the food chain.
@ Greg, you asked the question why we are taking these measures which you see as anti-business. But the question that should be asked is why the business community has not been a better partner in finding solutions to a rapidly approaching crisis in how we manage our solid waste and recycling stream? Our entire elaborate and expensive waste collection system revolves around our mindset of “just make it go away”. We continue the reckless production of throw away goods and the careless disposal of waste. In Newton we incinerate about 65-70% of our waste and much of our recycling gets sent to China, which by the way no longer wants our mediocre-quality feedstock.
In 2 ½ years we will need to negotiate a new solid waste and recycling contract. How many guesses that disposal costs will go up? We are not permitting new incinerators and landfill space is rapidly dwindling. Where is all this trash going to go? And why should communities shoulder most of the costs?
In nature, there is no waste. Everything is up-cycled and re-used. We need to be more like nature and embrace a circular economy. We live in a world of finite resources and we must change the way we consume. It will not be possible to continue the current path.
By the way, zero waste policies have extraordinary benefits for local economies and encourage new opportunities for small businesses and this may be the silver lining to China’s, “Green Fence”.
Horrible. First of all, who do they think they are? The plastic bag ban never took into account the added cost and storage space businesses had to deal with switching over to paper bags. On top of that, stores like Wegman’s saw “shrinkage” as the paper bags break and groceries are lost when bags break. The solution has been to use double bags. So, are we to pay for two bags because they break?
The City Council is not being thoughtful. They are being reckless. Time to stop charging residents every time you perceive a problem. How about being innovative and developing new sources of revenue (other than taxes and fees)? Other municipalities do. Why can’t Newton?
Horrible idea. Bad execution. Taking the easy way out. Harmful to your residents. Disgraceful.
Greg taxing plastic bags is an environmental/health tax akin to taxes on alcohol, tobacco, soda – https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/opinion/soda-health-taxes.html.
Cities, not states or the feds, have led the charge on these equitable and efficient forms of taxation.
@Councilor Auchinclos: I’d personally be very happy to support a state soda tax and have no problem with our existing state taxes on alcohol or tobacco taxes either. And as I’ve said repeatedly here, I personally favor a statewide solution to plastic/paper bag waste as well.
Back in 2015 when the board of aldermen proposed the compromise plastic bag ban I thought it was a good idea (and BTW, so did the Newton-Needham Chamber’s Board of Directors) for two reasons:
1. It eliminated the most prevalent source of single use plastic bags coming from grocery stores, chain pharmacies and other large merchants. (Anecdotally, it sure seems like there are a lot fewer such bags littering our streets and parks..and before someone else feels the need to say it: Of course it could be better.)
2. It provided the exact leadership you refer to in your comment by adding Newton to the growing list of municipalities with plastic bag restrictions to help push along a statewide initiative.
Newton has sent that message to Beacon Hill as have many other municipalities. This is an election year and an ideal time for activists to be getting commitments from candidates statewide to support a statewide solution.
This seems reasonable. Not overly burdensome, encourages the use of reusable bags –
which I leave in the car all too often. If accommodations are made for those whom it will actually be a burden, the likely outcome is that people like me who intend to be more eco-friendly will actually remember to bring the bag sitting in the back seat into the store.
You guys just don’t get it. The quality of life in Newton continues to fall. Newton residents are taxed for everything you can think of. Our kids have to pay to park their cars at school. Athletic fees and uniform fees and travel fees and bus fees. This is not what Newton is supposed to be. What services do we get for the taxes we pay? Charge parents fees for their kids who inappropriately carry Juuls to school. Charge fees to teachers who did not go to school today because they were up late watching football games (check the teacher absent list today at the high schools). Let’s start using some common sense.
This is standard in Europe, Cambridge has done it, Boston has done it… It seems reasonable to me. We will all collectively pay the costs for waste eventually. I’d greatly prefer a very small, easily avoidable tax that that will reduce waste right now.
And I will add…just because Boston and Cambridge did it does not mean Newton has to do it. Certainly we can look at this down the road but again, there are FAR more important issues facing this City than a paper bag tax.
The Patriots game ended at 6:15. I see no reason to make unsubstantiated claims about people you don’t know, NewtonCares. If you want to make such claims and accusations about city employees, at the very least, please have the courtesy or courage to use your real name.
People have referred to this proposal as a “tax,” with the implication being that the bag money would go to the City. Again, it’s my understanding that the additional money created by this fee would go directly to the retailer’s bottom line. If I’m incorrect on that point, perhaps one of the sponsors of the bag fee will correct me…
If however I am correct and the store keeps the money, we’re talking about some of the largest retailers in the country, businesses like Amazon and Walgreens, directly benefiting financially from this initiative. These are publicly held companies that many Newton residents have in their portfolios. It would be improper for any elected official holding these stocks to vote on this bag fee without revealing that conflict of interest. The sponsors of this initiative owe the public full transparency. They should do the same thing many of us have been demanding from the POTUS, and release their tax returns.
@Mike Striar — Is it really net all that much of a net benefit to retailer? Lower cost of doing business should lower prices elsewhere in store. Its seems more a question of whether cloth bag shoppers should be required to subsidize paper bag users/disposers as they do now. Retailers could actually be hurt a bit if people buy what they bring bags for, and reduce their impulse purchases.
I’ve been wondering lately given their increased local physical presence, with Whole Foods and delivery locker and return locations, whether Amazon could introduce light recyclable shipping containers that people opt in for and return for reuse.
@Jack– The only $ value estimate I’ve seen was posted by another contributor to this thread. I believe the cost savings to large retailers is substantial enough that it warrants financial transparency on the part of the ordinance’s sponsors. Do you agree with me on that point?
I don’t agree with your assumption that the giant companies affected by this will return their cost savings to the consumer. That reminds me of the Republican argument that lower corporate taxes will result in higher wages. Likewise, your suggestion that shoppers who use cloth bags are somehow subsidizing those who prefer paper, is about as nonsensical as my suggesting meat eaters are raising the cost of my food because I don’t eat meat.
@Mike: Methinks you’ve been watching too much cable news.
Councilor Mariewicz is new to the council so he doesn’t have a track record. But I’ve observed and interacted with Councilors Leary, Norton, Auchincloss, Brousal Glazer, Danberg and Kalis long enough to say with confidence that this docketed item is very much an initiative they would support for entirely altruistic reasons.
Eliminating plastic and paper bags and encouraging the use of reusable bags is an entirely laudable goal. Suggesting that they have a hidden profit motive feels like something Alex Jones might have dreamed up.
I was so interested in reading different people’s views! One view I learned about was that the retailers will keep the money from the fee. Interesting. We are charging fees to the people of Newton, and the retailer gets to keep the fee. Interesting.
One poster wrote about the fees going back to the city, which I thought was such an interesting thought! As a parent of NPS children, the fees I have been charged for years goes right to NPS. It would be interesting not being charged fees. Or having to purchase a specific copy of Romeo and Juliet for your 9th grader. (Yes Newton South must have thousands of copies of the book, but this teacher wanted a specific version, so every student had to provide his or her own copy.).
The bus fees goes to the general fund.
What did the councilors have in mind regarding this part of the fee?
@Greg– I don’t believe the bag fee sponsors are motivated by profit. But I do believe that all elected officials should reveal any financial conflict of interest they have in legislation they are proposing. Do you really disagree with that point? I also believe it should be a requirement that anyone seeking elective office make their tax returns public. Agree or disagree?
@Mike: Yes elected officials should disclose and recuse themselves when they have a conflict or potential conflict of interest. But I don’t believe all public officials should be required to release tax forms and certainly not those holding part time municipal positions such as city council and school committee.
@Greg– Okay, so I’m suggesting that sponsors of this bag fee have an obligation to disclose if they hold stocks or mutual funds in any of the affected corporations like Amazon or Walgreens. Regardless of how I feel about the bag fee [thumbs-down], financial disclosure is an altogether different issue. It seems like we agree on the need for financial disclosure. I’m not sure how to accomplish that without tax returns. The honor system aint gonna cut it!
In general, I do disagree with you about requiring City Council and School Committee candidates to release tax returns. Ten years ago I would have agreed. But now I think full transparency should be a requirement. Both elected bodies hold sway over more than a quarter billion dollars a year in taxpayer funds. They are to varying degrees responsible for a multitude of contractual agreements between the City, it’s employees, and a wide range of private contractors. As a citizen and taxpayer, I want to know with as much certainty as possible how my elected representatives make their money.
Am I allowed to bring in my own reusable plastic bags?
I remember when plastic bags were first deployed, the rallying cry was that they would save trees. Over 3 million trees were saved in the first decade … but most of them were lost in forest fires.
With the prices at Whole Foods and Star Market being significantly above the industry mean and average, I wouldn’t even notice the paper bag fee on my receipt.
I will support this in Newton and at the state level, along with a 10 cent discount for each reusable bag you bring in and use.
I like to put the paper bags inside my cloth bags, because the handles are better. Anyone ever have their groceries fall out because the paper handle broke? (pro hint, use Both handles to maximize effectiveness)
Sure there are more important things for the council to do, but I trust they will also address these more pressing items in due time. Best to get the frivolous ones out of the way early in the local legislative year:-)
Okay, I will jump in on this thread. First in the interest of full disclosure, back in the day, when asked “paper or plastic” I usually said plastic, because 1) I would save and use those bags for a number of purposes and 2) If I am walking home from Walgreen’s in Newton Centre it is just a lot easier to carry my purchases in a plastic bag and 3) when I got to the grocery store I could carry a bunch of those puppies in on one trip. But I accept no plastic.
Fast forward to today. While I would love to use all the cute bags that I but for $1 @ Marshalls or TJMAXX, I am not a planner. So a trip to Wegman’s usually means I don’t have any of those bags with me. So I use paper. I everything about Wegman’s except the cheap paper bags they use and I really wouldn’t want to pay a nickle for one of those bags. Now Trader Joe’s in another story. Their bags are much better quality and they almost always double bag without me asking. Those Trader Joe double bags not only get my purchases home with no ripped handles, but get reused over and over to collect my recyclables. I would happily pay a quarter for a Trade Joe’s double bag.
But here is my question? Why the heck don’t we start with requiring the Tab a fee for every paper that gets deposited in a driveway in Newton every Wednesday in a plastic bag?
And it is absurd that retailer get to pocket the proceeds from charging for bags. Not offering bags already reduces their costs. Why should they keep this revenue
You can opt out of receiving the Tab. Just call and ask that they stop delivering.
@ Jane Frantz “You can opt out of receiving the Tab. Just call and ask that they stop delivering.”
Yes I know but that isn’t really the point. Most people aren’t going to bother. Just easier to toss it in the trash. I actually read mine, but since I mostly get around NC on foot, I see plenty laying unopened in driveways. Better to have people opt in.
Jake, you know I’m a strong supporter of yours. But I’m not convinced that a paper bag fee is analogous to a soda tax. Soda is clearly harmful to people. Paper bags? Paper is renewable, and a tiny percentage of the global paper supply is from old growth forest. Most of it is made from farmed softwoods grown for the purpose and replanted on a regular cycle. Paper bags are biodegradable and convenient. Like others on this thread, our household uses the paper bags we get at local grocery markets to hold our recycling (mostly paper); is that not virtue enough? Sigh.
And I’m also curious about Mike’s question: Who gets the money? The retailer or the city?
I presume that the intentions of the docketers is for the fee to go back to the merchants, but only because that’s how it works in other municipalities (and I doubt legally a municipality could collect a bag tax without a home rule petition).
But it would be great if one of the seven councilors whose name is attached to this could confirm and I’m puzzled as to why they haven’t already.
I would rather see a mandatory bonus for people that bring their own bags vs. a fee that goes back to the retailers with no benefit to the taxpayers of Newton. I would also say that the City should make it a priority to protect the brick and mortar businesses that support our tax base vs. burdening them against their competition. Increasingly, the competition to these businesses is not brick and mortar stores in other communities, but e-commerce. I love Amazon. As a Prime member, I don’t pay for shipping. The prices are low and the convenience is high. Having Amazon has significantly cut into how much I shop at local brick and mortar stores. It has also significantly increased the amount of packaging that I recycle. There are so many e-commerce companies with lots and lots of packaging — most meal kits for example– that are completely untaxed or otherwise not accountable for their paper footprint. This is the competition to our local businesses. Plastic bags were evil. Paper ones are not so much. I constantly use them to facilitate recycling.While I’m at it, I have to mention two other pain points. First, I work in an office building in Newton where recycling isn’t available. When I worked in Boston, it was. Can commercial properties in Newton not recycle through the city? I have been taking my personal recycling home from work (in brown paper grocery bags) for years, while I see all of my company’s waste go to trash vs. recycling. Second, my kids are the worst recyclers. Their socialization in the NPS made sure they were extremely politically correct, but not so much so environmentally . They are more likely to throw something in the trash vs. bother to clean it for recycling. So if there could be some sort of connection, say, between a bag tax funding environmental education in our schools vs. the money going back to TJX or Walgreens or WholeFoods/Amazon, I would be much more supportive.
Paper bag production has environmental costs.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/paper-plastic1.htm
Have any studies been done to show the impact of the fee for paper bags on the amount of recyclables and the amount trash? I would hypothesize that the paper bag fee would lower the amount of recyclables stored at home and returned to the stores.
Of course, the fact that China won’t accept recyclables from the rest of the world might have much more of an impact than the fee for bags.
@KarenN has the right idea. Change should be implemented in a positive manner and treat residents with respect and assume we all try to do the right thing. Discounting those consumers that bring in their own bags is far more meaningful than allowing the merchants, who have to pay for some way to get your goods out of the store anyway, a mandatory revenue stream.
The only way I would entertain any type of fee is if the “bag” money either went to offset costs associated with “green” changes , or to a charity of the merchants choice.
Changes mandated for a cause without the whole picture have a tendency to aggravate people when positive methods would have better served the public good and I’m assuming the goals of the Councilors.
@Greg, so far the plan is for the fee to go back to the merchants. I did post this information on my earlier comment.
@Karen, thank you for your thoughtful comments. Regarding a mandatory bonus for people that bring their own bags; you may be aware that Whole Foods/Amazon does rebate a customer 5 cents for every re-usable bag and have done this for years. Stop N Shop ended their reusable bag rebate program in 2013 citing “a plateau in effectiveness.” (Resulting in The Nature Conservancy to refuse a $10,000 donation from the company). There is nothing stopping any retailer from providing rewards for BYOB (or charging a fee on paper for that matter). Karen, you are correct that Newton does not require businesses to recycle, and though many commercial properties do recycle there are a lot that still don’t. This will change, hopefully within the year. The Schools are also an area that needs big improvements. Almost all the efforts to recycle were done by the students and we had little city involvement. This will change as well. Your suggestion to donate the fee for environmental education is a good one. We should discuss the possibility of this. The City of Cambridge which has had a fee on paper for nearly 2 years reports that some retailers do donate the fee to charity. They also report a 50% decrease in paper bag use.
@Jim, you say that we are “making changes without cause …without the whole picture when positive methods would have better served the public good”. Have you talked to any retailers about implementing a rewards program? Or any positive green initiative for that matter? I haven’t seen you at the monthly Solid Waste Commission meeting where we talk in depth about solid waste polices and are currently preparing a 10-year sustainable materials management plan. I think I have a good sense about the “whole picture”.
I do think it is critical to work with businesses, but frankly most have been very resistant to partner with communities or the Commonwealth on waste reduction or recycling efforts. Current prices simply do not reflect the true value of the materials we discard or the externalized environmental costs of landfilling and incineration. By 2020 Massachusetts will lose a large amount of in-state disposal capacity. The biggest driver to increase diversion is high disposal costs. In Australia, disposal costs are around $250-350 per ton (we pay about $65-70 per ton) and as you might expect this drives serious interest on reducing disposal.
We are living in the world of limited resources. The hard laws of physics indicate that change is unavoidable.
Did I read correctly that an organization that asks me for donations on a regular basis refused a $10,000 donation from a corporation because they stopped providing a 5 cent reimbursement for using reusable bags? A minor detail in this debate, but that makes no sense. This is another example of the purist attitude that so many political, environmental, and social advocacy groups require in recent years.
I have no problem with the 10 cent paper bag fee and support the passage of an ordinance, but the insistence on purity of thought and action isn’t getting us where we need to be on any front. If that’s where the city council is coming from in the future, they will only lose support from regular people who want to take eco-friendly actions but sometimes slip up. Encourage people to do the right thing in a positive way.
Shouldn’t the city be talking about stepping up its public information efforts before imposing a fine (no matter how small) on common behavior? And wouldn’t making paper bags a new revenue source for merchants be entirely counterproductive? (Not to mention that the cost of the bags is surely already folded into the prices charged for the things that go into them.) At the CVS in Newton Centre the other day, I passed six customers in line at the pharmacy, some holding multiple items for purchase, not one of them carrying a reusable shopping bag. And I know from personal experience that unless you stop them, the pharmacists automatically drop the paper bag holding your prescription into a second paper bag, even if it’s the only thing you’re buying. It seems to me that people have simply segued from plastic to paper without much awareness of the larger issue. Education and persuasion may be the harder route, but it’s certainly the fairer one.
While I tend to bring my own bags, sometimes I forget or make an impromptu store visit – and I think that’s probably like most people. And I don’t mind paying ten cents a bag here and there. But I really don’t like the idea that the money goes back to the stores. That’s an incentive for stores to train their baggers to double bag or not bag efficiently. Ten cents is only ten cents, but it could add up for the stores and create a lot of extra revenue for them.
@ Councillor Leary: Challenging individual Councilor Cote to have to go out to businesses and create an incentive program is unfair. Anything that broad should be a citywide effort, not one left to an individual Councilor.
Is this paper bag fee part of a larger, strategic plan for making Newton greener? To me, it just smacks of anti-business, anti-consumer/taxpayer, nanny state government overreach that puts a burden on local businesses and generates fees that are in no way directed toward making Newton greener. Small businesses like Waban Market will have to make another change, just when they’ve gotten through their stored inventory of plastic bags and fully transitioned to paper. Meanwhile, will Whole Foods be forced to end their positive 5 cent rebate to those who bring their own bags for a punitive 10 cent fee on those who don’t? Newton should have a plan, not piecemeal punitive laws. Just wondering, how much more would we reduce our carbon footprint if all Newton commercial properties recycled? Or if our city fleet of vehicles were electric? Or if all of our city properties were solar powered? These things are big fish. These things make a difference. This bag fee is just a small-minded quick fix to score points to appear environmental without meaningful impact (Yes, paper bags from local businesses have impact, but Amazon delivery boxes and packaging have so much more.)I say this as someone who is so green, I have a worm bin in my basement composting food waste. I fill up two recycling bins a week with little trash. Most of all, I take home every single recyclable generated while I work in an office building in Newton Corner because there is zero recycling offered. Green tenants have asked why and been told that it is so much cheaper to trash vs. recycle. Recycling is apparently not economically feasible for commercial properties in Newton, and I should think that this has as much if not much much more of an impact as paper bags. Personally, as someone who saw accessible recycling when I worked in Boston and cringes daily to see even cardboard boxes not recycled, I think that this is something that should be focused on.
Karen is making some compelling arguments here. I hope the docketers respond.
And I share Jane’s bafflement in response to The Nature Conservancy’s decison to refuse a $10,000 donation from Stop N Shop to protest the end of the chain’s reusable bag rebate program. Unbelievable.
I believe the best and fairest way to achieve bag reduction (plastic and paper) is through a state wide initiative. That levels the playing field for all merchants and won’t send customers who want, for example, plastic bags for their trash cans or pet poop, shopping in a neighboring community which still allows them.
Newton Aldermen sold the original plastic bag ban as a step towards a state wide effort. Let’s focus on that.
KarenN is right on.
For any meaningful effect this should be done on a regional basis.
Councilors Leary, Norton, Auchincloss, Brousal- Glaser, Danberg, Kalis, Markiewicz- if you want to make symbolic gestures, do it on your own dime.
Just to be clear, a statewide/regional ban is far superior to individual cities and towns slogging through the ordinance process. But I do believe that we have a better chance of that happening if more communities pass bans. But, please, do it and move onto other issues..
@Jane: The state wide initiative was a main selling point of Newton’s original plastic bag ban. I don’t see how making Newton’s rules stricter improves the chances for action on Beacon Hill.
Advocates should focus their energy on getting additional municipalities to implement bans not creating a situation where the rules vary from community to community.
@KarenN No worries @Councilor Leary was just being funny, serving on the Council she is quite aware that its completely impossible, and not practical for each and every City Councilor to make every meeting on every topic. Fortunately, the 24 Councilors all have different specialties and interests, providing great coverage for the residents of Newton.
While she’s at the solid waste meeting, I may be out on the trash trucks with our vendor checking service and procedures in the field. It all works, though your points on the bag issue are valid and well thought out.
Greg – Good point.
Where did I say that things should be done on a regional or statewide basis? I sure as heck didn’t. That could take forever and there’s no time to wait. Every local community should be driving for change on issues that increase recycling and fund impactful environmental endeavors. Newton should lead and model positive legislation (positive incentives vs. punitive charges). We are a highly educated community with a population that is more likely to support environmental initiatives. Let’s not blow it with petty bag fees. Let’s genuinely lead and make Newton a shining example of what can be done on a local-municipality level in Massachusetts.
I recommend some googling on the impact of bag fees vs. incentives. People are loss averse and change behavior much more when there is a small cost involved rather than a small credit.
For example:
https://wagner.nyu.edu/files/faculty/publications/Homonoff%20-%20Can%20Small%20Incentives%20Have%20Large%20Effects_0.pdf
“This paper examines a simple element of financial incentive design whether the
incentive takes the form of a fee for bad behavior or a reward for good behavior to determine
if the framing of the incentive influences the policy’s effectiveness. I investigate
the effect of two similar policies aimed at reducing disposable bag use: a five-cent tax on
disposable bag use and a five-cent bonus for reusable bag use. While the tax decreased
disposable bag use by over forty percentage points, the bonus generated virtually no
effect on behavior. These results are consistent with a model of loss aversion.”
It should be noted that while Whole Foods doesn’t give plastic bags at the checkout counter, it does supply them in the fresh produce area as well as the dispensers for grains/nuts. Shoppers use LOTS of these.