Saying it’s punitive, unnecessary and unsanitary and represents government overreach, some New Canaan residents are voicing opposition to a proposed ban on thin plastic bags at local shops.
Though members of New Canaan’s legislative body say most constituents who have lodged their opinions in formal letters are in favor a single-use plastic bag ban, others have been critical of the proposal.
Jeanne Russo in a letter to the Town Council said that such bans often have “unintended negative results.”
“Expecting senior citizens or lower income families to buy reusable bags, so some in our community can feel good about themselves by ‘doing their part,’ is unfair and wrong,” Russo wrote. “You represent all members in our community, not just the ones with loud voices.”
Town resident Nicole Busby said that while she’s in favor of people bringing reusable bags with them to local shops, she’s opposed to an outright ban on plastic bags because “it’s an overreach of government.”
Scott Hobbs in a letter to the Council said that while single-use plastic bags may seem wasteful, “they are all sanitary.”
“Recycled bags frequently get contaminated from use with food and most people do not properly maintain them,” he said. “In addition, if you look at the chemicals, water and time involved in properly maintaining the reusable bags, it is likely that they cost more and are at least closer to as harmful to the environment. Please do not pass such a resolution.”
The comments come as the Town Council Bylaws and Ordinance Committee considers draft legislation (see it here in full) that would prohibit retailers from supplying double-handled carryout bags to customers. Under the proposal, customers would be able to use any type of bag they want so long as they bring it in themselves, and the ban would not include the clear spinning bags that patrons of grocery stores, for example, use to gather up produce or to help contain packaged poultry. Instead, the proposal says, retailers would only offer 100 percent recyclable bags, charging up to 10 cents for them.
Advocates for the change, which has been discussed in town for years and is being brought forward now by a local group calling itself “BYO New Canaan,” say the ban is sensible and in line with resolutions already in place in nearby towns, and also that it will eliminate litter.
One member of BYO New Canaan, Robin Bates Mason, said she often participates int eh town’s annual “Clean Your Mile” and waterway cleanups in town, and that she’s “always shocked by the amount of garbage I find, particularly plastic bags.”
“I don’t think people are aware of the detrimental impact these bags are having on not just our oceans but our local environment and beauty of our town,” she said. “I reached out recently to Dr. Mel Sorcher of Westport who was instrumental in their plastic bag ban. I asked him if he noticed a difference in Westport after the ban went into effect. This is what he said: ‘What is clear in Westport is that there are not any empty plastic bags flying around in the wind any more or evident in the roads as street trash.’ ”
The Town Council’s Bylaws and Ordinances Committee is scheduled to take up the draft legislation at a meeting to be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Town Hall. The Committee is expected to make a recommendation to the full Town Council, which would then take up a formal discussion and possible vote on the proposal at a future meeting.
Councilman Steve Karl, a co-chair of the Committee, said its members “want to have as much community input as possible and we want it to be a broad-based discussion that brings in not only the business community, but the end users of the bags.”
“And those are the folks that shop every day and use the bags in their daily lives and we do not want to make a decision locally that overreaches,” Karl said. “But in looking at other towns around us and some areas that have put in similar laws, our subcommittee has really studied this issue extensively and we believe that New Canaan should be doing as much as we can to support environmental issues and we also look at it from cost perspective. We have heard from [Public Works Director] Tiger Mann about the cost of recycling increasing and some of savings netted, and right now the Council is on a mission to save every dollar we can.”
Under the proposal, the New Canaan health director or her designee would enforce the ban, and retailers found to be in violation could be issued a written warning for a first violation, $150 for a second and $250 for each subsequent violation. Retailers would be penalized just once per 24-hour period, under the proposal.
Karl said the Committee has been careful in creating the proposed legislation that it would not harm business owners.
“And I do not think anyone in town that has visited one of our parks or gone up to New Canaan High School hasn’t seen one of these bags blowing around in a breeze or stuck in a fence somewhere, and there is certainly room for improvement in terms of these bags,” he said. “You have to admit it is not like they are not out there.”
New Canaan’s Caroline Brokaw Tucker said in a letter to the Council that she “absolutely” supports the proposed ban on thin plastic bags.
“They are completely unnecessary and this is an easy challenge to address,” said Brokaw Tucker, who also noted that she’s been kept reusable bags in her car for 15 years.
“Other changes we need to consider to protect our environment and planet are going to be much more challenging so why waste time debating this easy one?” she said. “Just ban them and let’s move on to the hard choices.”
Town resident Julia Bossidy asked the Council to “please consider the ban of single use bags.”
“They are not good for the environment,” Bossidy wrote in her letter. “We as a community can work together to reduce our carbon footprint. Banning the bags will be a good first step.”
Susie Caitlin, a town resident for most of her life, said she is “in complete support” fo the proposed ordinance.
“ I have made a conscious effort over the past few years to use reusable bags whenever possible and it is my hope that more people will follow suit to help eliminate this pesky pollutant,” Caitlin said. “I applaud the other neighboring towns which have banned the use of plastic bags in an effort to become more environmentally conscious both locally and globally.”
Aside from the environmental issue, single-use plastic bans are costly and dangerous in solid waste management. They get caught in the machines and cause work stoppages (this happens roughly every 4 hours), and workers need to physically enter the enormous, sharp jaws of the equipment and cut the tangled bags out by hand with a knife.
In addition to all the environmental benefits incurred by not using plastic bags, there is the very practical aspect of those bags being nearly useless in most cases. They’re thin, they rip, if you don’t tie them items fall out in your car. And they don’t hold more than a few things. It’s pretty simple to keep a few bags in your car(s) and just grab a couple when you run in. And it makes it easier to then unpack all those groceries too, once you get home. Win/win.
Hard to believe we are STILL debating this issue. It makes more sense now than ever. And you can still get paper bags with out buying reusable bags. Plus I get money back for every bag I reuse. Banning those terrible plastic bags just needs to happen.
It’s worth noting that Greenwich, Norwalk and South Salem have happily enacted plastic bag bans in addition to Westport. It’s not “governmental overreach” to get rid of something that’s destructive. It’s common sense.
Another example (among many) of a proposed restriction that would affect everyone in New Canaan and should be voted on by everyone.
Reuse bags are gross – Contamination from people cars and homes will now be all over the carts and food items for people that don’t wash them. People will put a item in a bag then take it out after changing there mind and put it back on the shelf – now after that who knows what is now attached to your fresh fruit – that reusable bag might have been in someone bathroom the night before unloading t.p. paper or had leaking chicken meat in it – plus you end up paying more in the long run for reusable bags and the environment suffers more because you have to wash these bags and they also take a lot more energy to make then thin plastic bags. Think about all that energy/$$$ that it takes to do a wash load.
Hope these people that want this ban are not aloud to buy trash bags as they are also thin plastic as well – stop making other peoples lives harder – and if you don’t want to use them YOU don’t use them. I for one don’t want to get sick.
Todd, that’s not actually how grocery bags work. You buy reusable bags yourself (Walter Stewart’s and Trader Joe’s both have them and they cost about $1) you bring them to the market, shop with a basket or a cart as usual, and your groceries are bagged in them after you finish shopping. They aren’t passed from one consumer to another, so theres no risk of spreading germs. It’s really pretty simple! Hope this helps.
I never said passed from one consumer to another – I am taking about all the people that wont wash the bags and gave examples of what these people might do.
Environmental behaviors or acts that take better care of our town and our planet are not necessarily convenient. If we don’t start at some basic level, how can we learn what works and what does not? Banning these bags should be part of a new policy for New Canaan and it should be assessed, reviewed and openly within a year.
I am against the banning of plastic bags as long as there’s a required charge for paper bags. Paper bags are recyclable and worked well long before plastic bags were introduced decades ago. I’ve heard the arguments of charging for the paper bags and quite frankly they don’t hold water, especially since there are hundreds of other plastic bags this ordinance ignores and which are just as much of an issue as the tee shirt grocery bags.
I’ve heard the Chamber of Commerce is for this ordinance, of course, it removes a cost from the merchant and passes it along to the consumer with mandatory fee for its replacement product. How about making the merchant supply reusable bags for free, see how much support you get there from the Chamber of Commerce with that!
One final thought, according to the ordinance the paper bags are subject to sales tax, so in effect it will cost the consumers 11 cents per bag not 10 cents.
Please Town Council, stay focused on helping our citizens, don’t pass more taxes onto the Connecticut consumer when our Governor is doing the same. Vote no on this ordinance or at least remove the 10 cent paper bag fee.
By the way, I already use re-cycled bags when I can.
The Chamber of Commerce is already working with several groups, including merchants, to look into the possibility of providing reusable bags free for a period of time as we transition into a “Bring Your Own Bag” mindset”…in fact it has already happened with Planet New Canaan giving away hundreds of reusable bags for free and as part of that initiative, Stewart’s Market made donations to the NC Library for each one used! Now that is the power of a partnership!
That would be wonderful except its not a permanent solution to the fact that the Town Council has subsidized merchants by passing an added tax on to the consumers, forcing residents to purchase some type of bag when that promotion ends, if it ever starts.
Town Council, please stay focused and keep you hands out of our pockets, you already spend more than is necessary and you should be passing laws that help the residents of New Canaan, not punish them.
So it turns out the banning plastic bags was not such a good idea after all.
Many European countries, including France, have been promoting the use of reusable bags for years (at least 12, maybe more), forcing consumers to bring their own bags or pay a fee to get a single use bag. It’s not a novel idea. None of the draconian effects describe by people above ever materialized. More people didn’t get sick, no one went hungry because they had to spend $1 (well, a euro) to buy a bag. I really miss some other brilliant ideas that were common laws. Here’s some examples from France: 1) all the grocery carts are chained up and you have to put a Euro in a slot to get one free, and get your Euro back when you return the cart. I am so sick of seeing people in their workout clothes who can’t take personal responsibility to return their cart and end up stuffing somewhere where it takes up a parking space (often a handicapped one) or rolls and damages someones car. 2) They require everyone on a bike after dust to wear a reflective vest and have working lights on their bike. 3) They require that you have a reflective vest within reaching distance of the driver of a car at all times, and you must use it if you stop on the road and exit your car. 4) Under a French program, grocery stores provide 5 different fruits and vegatables that are packaged for a family of 4 that sell for 1 Euro each. This means a family of 4 can meet your 5 servings of fruits and veggies for 5 euro per day. Junk food/McDonalds is a lot more expensive. There is almost always broccoli and apples within the program, but the variety can change by the day, week and season, so consumers can take advantage of what is in season. 5) In 2016, France passed a law that prohibits stores/grocery stores from throwing food away. Depending on its state of being safe to eat, they either have to compost it or donate it to a local food bank. Point is, we are destroying our environment, we have people who go hungry, we have peopele who don’t have access to healthcare, and we are well behind many other countries on dealing with our current pandemic – and yet we have some who are complaining about having to bring their own bag to the grocery store. If that is all you have to worry about – you are blessed.
Have you been to a local grocery store in past week? They are not allowing you to bring your own bags. Just because Europe adopted the ban it doesn’t mean that its right for U.S.
Thanks Amy, for pointing out how our “first world” problems are so trivial and behind the times when compared to what happens around the world and right around us. Toilet paper and a lack of plastic bags is not a crisis when so many minimum wage workers are getting laid off. Just Google “surge in unemployment filings in CT” and recognize the real crisis that is unfolding.