<p>The West Tisbury selectmen became the second town board this week to back an initiative seeking a ban of single-use plastic bags.</p>
The West Tisbury selectmen became the second town board this week to back an initiative seeking a ban of single-use plastic bags.
At their meeting Wednesday, selectmen voted unanimously to support a bylaw drafted by the Vineyard Conservation Society. Aquinnah selectmen voted to back the proposal on Tuesday.
Samantha Look, a VCS board member, presented the selectmen with a draft of a new bylaw. She said along with asking for bans in all six towns, VCS plans to begin a campaign promoting reusable bags.
“We intend to do a lot of education and talking to people about it,” she said.
The bylaw will be put before voters at the annual town meeting in April. If it is approved, single-use plastic bags would be banned from stores as well as places like the farmers’ market and artisans fair.
Selectman Richard Knabel predicted little resistance in West Tisbury. Selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter 3rd was also supportive of the ban.
“I think we can lead the way and show that’s what we like to do,” he said.
In other business Wednesday, town accountant Kathy Logue returned to discuss the town property maintenance committee. A charge for the committee was drawn up three weeks ago. Responsibilities include developing a schedule of ongoing maintenance activities, keep inventory of maintenance equipment and materials, managing facilities budgets, developing efficient long and short-term maintenance plans and creating a preventative maintenance schedule for buildings.
It has yet to be decided if the committee will be permanent or temporary.
“We’re trying to get caught up before we fall anymore behind,” Ms. Logue said.
The selectmen agreed to begin soliciting members for the committee. They plan to appoint three or five members who have experience with building maintenance or have served on similar committees.
Comments
So, instead of using a
Careful EdgartownSo, instead of using a plastic bag from a grocery store as a liner for small trashcans and carrying other items we'll just force people to buy plastic bags at the store for those purposes. Should we also do away with sandwich bags and wrap our kid's lunches in newspapers?
How about having the stores take the bags back for those that don't have other uses for them?
The kids sandwiches will
Debra Gaines EdgartownThe kids sandwiches will taste a lot better and fresher if you package them in reusable glass Pyrex containers like we do. We also reuse the plastic bags as trash liners, but we have accumulated WAY MORE than we could possibly use in our lifetime. If we have to pay for the paper bags we use in every store like we have to at Cronigs, maybe all of us, including myself will leave plastic (sorry) milk crates or totes in our vehicles to transport
our groceries in. We manage to do this at BJ's and/or Costco.
They want to to pay a nickel
Very Annoyed Vineyard HavenThey want to to pay a nickel or dime for a bag. The downside of not having a clean single use plastic bag is bacteria which builds up in the bags, if you do not wash them weekly. We are talking about meat juice leaking on your fruit and veggies, do I hear e coli and other bacteria. The single use plastic bag has health purpose for not spreading bacteria and keeping you safe from disease. I am for canvas bags carrying groceries but I want plastic for my meat, veggies and fruit.
The Towns are not looking at
Joe Hruska HamiltonThe Towns are not looking at all the science and facts - in fact the ban is anti-environmental and does not recognize the high reuse rates for bags and recycling. Citizens and industry want choices to manage all 3R's (reduce,reuse,recycle) which will be more effective in building support for responsible use of bags to other packaging and products
Just one more thing making it
ChazF NewHampsterJust one more thing making it more expensive to live there. Ban the bags not the irresponsible users peeps that litter...
No more plastic bags blowing
Joel KatamaNo more plastic bags blowing into harbors, bays, oceans and fields. Awesome idea. Use paper instead that degrades.
We would like to clear up
Jeremy Houser Vineyard Conservation SocietyWe would like to clear up some confusion over the purpose and scope of the proposed bylaw. First, the ban would only apply to plastic bags given out at checkout. It does not cover those used in-store for meats, produce, bulk items and the like, so the safety concern is misplaced.
Second, the issue of raising costs for consumers is overstated, and quite possibly completely backwards. The bags are very cheap to manufacture, but once they leave the store it’s the taxpayers who foot the real bill through increased waste disposal costs. Plastic bags are a nightmare for waste haulers and processors, raising costs through work stoppages needed to remove bags jammed in the machinery. In general, plastic bags don't suit the recycling model because it’s not financially viable. Locally, both Bruno’s and the MVRRD don’t accept them.
More broadly, we do realize this ban would create inconveniences for some. For example, the point raised about having to buy trash bags instead of reusing the disposable shopping bags is legitimate. We see it as a very small sacrifice, a tiny price to pay compared to the damage done by flyaway bags. For every bag that is carefully reused, there are thousands that make their way into our natural environment. They are not just ugly to look at – they also kill countless birds, fish, and marine mammals directly through entanglement or ingestion, and indirectly harm our food supply when they break down into tiny particles and work their way up the food chain.
Growing up, we used the brown
BFGrowing up, we used the brown paper bags that you got your groceries in for the rubbish liners. And our lunches were wrapped in waxed paper and then placed in small brown paper lunch bags.
And, we never bought processed foods so had very little or no waste that consisted of plastic bowls or wraps.
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