Local Politics:Issues:Plastic Bag Ban

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Old Issues
Hartwell Anaerobic Digester

About 60 of 351 MA cities and towns have shopping bag laws, banning to a varying degree or taxing plastic bags or non-reusable shopping bags. A quick breakdown is available at BagLaws.com, a web site designed to help retailers comply with shopping bag laws. State legislation has also been proposed. Town-by-town legislative details can be found at MassGreen.org, an advocacy organization that favors plastic bag bans.

Surrounding towns with shopping bag laws include:

• Arlington (to go in effect 4/26/17)
• Bedford (to go in effect 3/25/17)
• Boston (to go in effect 11/29/17)
• Brookline (since 2012)
• Cambridge (since 2015)
• Wellesley (since 2016)

Arguments pro and contra can be found in the News & Editorials below.

Lexington waste, recycling, trash

About an equal quantity of waste and of recycling are discarded in Lexington curbside, along with yard waste. The Town maintains a recycling and yard waste collection point on Hartwell Ave.

Waste is trucked to the Wheelabrator North Andover incinerator. After incineration, the volume of trash is reduced by 2/3, and becomes ash that is transported to a monofill. Current monofills exist in Shrewsbury, Saugus, Peabody. The Andover plant processes 1,500 tons of trash a day from multiple towns, and has an energy generation capacity of 40MW.

Thin film is sometimes discarded in the recycling bins, but is considered a contaminant for recycling. Residents should recycle thin film plastic bags at convenience store recycling points, but not curbside. Otherwise, thin film plastic should be discarded in the trash.

Street sweeping is performed periodically in Lexington but does not find much litter - instead, it mostly collects sand and residual salt.

Lexington Reports

None as of 3/24/18.

Massachusetts Reports

State legislation is pending.

National & International Reports

• National Conference of State Legislatures :State Plastic and Paper Bag Legislation
• Nature: Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic, by L. Lebreton et. al. (Mar 22, 2018)
• Science Advances: Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made, by Roland Geyer et. al. (July 19, 2017)
• Environmental Effects of the Single Use Bag Ordinance in Austin, Texas (2015)
• Berkeley Science Review: Will California’s plastic bag ban help the environment?, by Erika Anderson (Apr 2017)
• Plastic Bag Association report: Plastic bags and incineration/energy (undated)
• The Telegraph: Plastic bag charge: the unintended consequences of the 5p deterrent, by Peter Spence (Oct 5, 2015)

News & Editorials

2017

• Boston Globe: Mayor Walsh signs ban on plastic bags for Boston, by John Hilliard and J.D. Capelouto (Dec 17, 2017)
• Boston Globe: Will that be paper... or a 5-cent compostable plastic bag?, by Natasha Mascarenhas (Dec 1, 2017)
• Boston Globe: The Argument: Should Needham ban the retail use of plastic bags? (Dec 15, 2017)
  • Yes: Robert Fernandez, Plastic Bag Ban Team chair, Green Needham Collaborative
  • No: Brian Houghton, Senior vice president, Massachusetts Food Association
• Boston Globe: Boston is close to banning plastic bags at stores, by Milton J. Valencia (Nov 29, 2017)
• Boston Globe: Boston City Council set to vote on plastic bag ban, by Milton J. Valencia (Nov 28, 2017)

2015

• Boston Globe: Newton’s plastic bag ban takes effect, by Ellen Ishkanian (July 28, 2015)
• Boston Globe: Newton aldermen pass plastic bag ban, by Ellen Ishkanian (Jan 25, 2015)

Advocacy

• APBA - American Progressive Bag Alliance
• MassGreen.org