Disposable plastic checkout bags would be eliminated at retail establishments in Newton, and customers would be charged a fee to use a paper or reusable bag under a proposal that will be considered on Tuesday by the City Council, John Hilliard reports for the Globe.
City Council to vote Tuesday on 10-cent paper bag fee
by Village 14 | Feb 13, 2019 | City Council, Newton | 8 comments
What about 100% biodegradable plastic bags?
As part of the plastic bag ban, will they stop the Newton tab from throwing plastic litter in my yard every Wednesday?
The Globe article states, “There are 92 Massachusetts cities and towns that have imposed regulations limiting or banning plastic bags….” I hope Newton becomes the 93rd. Eliminating plastic bags town by town is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to solving the enormous environmental problem that is plastic pollution. I grew up in the 1970s, the era of the iconic “Keep America Beautiful” (aka Crying Native American) and Woodsy Owl public service announcements on television. Some of us idealistic (read: naive) youngsters took the messages in those ads to heart and thought we could make a difference by disposing of our trash responsibly and becoming champion reduce/reuse/recyclers. Some 40 years later, plastic pollution is out of control. What happened?
So, the City Council is going to force merchants to charge a certain price for a product or service they offer. This is not a tax; i.e., a remittance to the city of a percentage of the price charged since any percent of $0 (current price of a paper bag) is in fact $0. This is not a fee being charged by the city for a service provided by the city. There is no proximal public health issue being addressed by this action (which for example might justify in some people’s mind the banning of cigarette sales at local convenience stores).
This is the fixing of a price by our local government on a product or service being offered by non-governmental entities. While expected in say Cuba, China, the USSR or other command economies, it should be troubling to all of us that such a policy should be so easily enacted here. And for what? Newton could be greener than green and it would not make one iota of a difference to the very real and very GLOBAL environmental issues we face. Rather than taking action which actually promotes good, it is all about useless impositions on the majority of us which make some small minority feel as though they have actually accomplished something. Rest assured, they have not.
This is tangenital to the thread, but why are Star market and other retailers using plastic bags? It makes no difference if they are considered ‘reusible’. The earlier ones were ‘reusible’too. They are violating the ban. I’d like to hear council people weigh in on this, please. Thank you.
@Pat: The first plastic bag ordinance only banned plastic bags of a certain thickness – and they bags that Star is using now are thicker than what was prohibited.
Once again, the city Council has not thought things through. If you go to a supermarket, the paper bags they have been using since the first plastic bag ban are horrible. The handles break immediately and the supermarket has to double bag everything. Why should we pay for lousy bags that break and have to be doubled up? Moreover, why does the city require these foolish orange bags on garbage day that double up the plastic? This is simply a way to generate additional revenue instead of providing services that an great city like Newton should be providing to its citizens.
@Amy: so the retailers have cleverly done an end run around the city. Time to change the ordinance. Plastic is plastic. I thought the idea was to get rid of it 🙁