The City Council today unanimously approved a measure that would ban thin plastic shopping bags and enact a 5-cent fee on paper bags and thicker plastic bags, as a way of reducing litter, helping the environment and curbing the use of the oil required to make them.
The measure, proposed by City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain) and Michelle Wu (at large), would go into effect in a year if approved by Mayor Walsh.
O'Malley said the measure would save the city money just in reducing the amount of bags the city's recycling company is now forced to spend "hours each day" picking out of recycling collections - in addition to leading to cleaner streets and parks and reducing the amount of plastic that birds and other creatures now consume inadvertently.
"Their convenience does not outweigh the significant costs associated with them," O'Malley said.
O'Malley estimated city residents now use 357 million of the bags a year. The proposed 5-cent fee would be a way to "incentivize" residents to increase their use of reusable bags without being too onerous, he said.
At the same time, Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large) urged the city to look at ways to distribute free reusable bags in low-income neighborhoods and among seniors. She noted that people who shop at some supermarkets, such as Save-a-Lot in Roxbury, already face a fee for getting store-supplied fees - and that shoppers there are showing their preference for a more environmentally friendly future.
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Comments
Who gets the 5c fee
By EM Painter
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 1:20pm
.
Plastic Bag Fee
By markg
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:36pm
Not the city if that's what you're asking
I think that's what he was asking...
By dmcboston
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 9:06pm
Just sayin'.
So, having done no research on the new ordinance, I don't know. But I do have a question...who gets the bugs that will inevitably get into all those repeatedly reused bags? You know, the ones that will crawl into the bags (not yours, of course, you rinse them out every time you use them) as they are stored on a shelf waiting to be brought back to the store?
Can you elaborate?
By ElizaLeila
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 8:02am
Is there an issue with bugs in bags that are reused?
This is awful.
By anon
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 1:24pm
What a bunch of jerks. Really, everything that is going on in the world and you're worrying about plastic bags? Don't hurt yourselves patting each other on the back.
Yes, trying not to leave a
By Kinopio
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:10pm
Yes, trying not to leave a huge mess for future generations is awful. Why should we pick up the mess we create? I guess we will all starve to death now because humanity wasn't able to acquire food before the plastic bag was invented. Thanks ObAMA....not!!1!
I'm all for reducing or
By Mike S
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:27pm
I'm all for reducing or eliminating plastic bags...but why add a 5cent fee on paper bags?!?
If the goal is to reduce plastic, then either a) ban them or b) add fees, like 5cents per bag
Don't also add fees for paper bags!!! Why are you making it harder to purchase groceries for Boston residents?!?
California has banned plastic
By Matt
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:40pm
California has banned plastic bags in the whole state and I believe paper bags have a 10 cent fee, DOUBLE Boston's. Some how the world keeps turning and CA still has the largest economy in the country. Bring reusable bags to the market, I've been doing it for years.
I'm not sure Cali is the problem
By dmcboston
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 8:53pm
Here's a link to a National Geographic story about plastic being disposed in the ocean. Now, it seems from the article that the US isn't the biggest part of the problem.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/1...
As a relatively rich country, we can do a lot to try to alleviate the problem. Poor countries just dump all the junk into the rivers that eventually feed into the ocean.
"The new study also identifies the major sources of plastic debris and names the top 20 countries generating the greatest amount of ocean-bound trash. China is first. The United States is 20th. The rest of the list includes 11 other Asian countries, Turkey, five African countries, and Brazil."
Considering the amount we generate, the infrastructure we have to recapture it, the problem seems to be other, poorer countries.
But I get it. You're (not specifically poster) doing something about the plastic bags. Good for you. So virtuous.
fees
By johnmcboston
Fri, 12/01/2017 - 11:26am
I believe the ordinance says a MINIMUM fee of 5 cents. Who knows what kind of fees one might see, depending on the store.
Obama?
By Ishmael Jones
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:42pm
What does Obama have to do with it?
WOOSH!
By zetag
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:07pm
.
Yes I am worried about it -
By Finn
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:31pm
Yes I am worried about it - and you would be too if you saw this and had an ounce of common sense:
https://inhabitat.com/shocking-caribbean-photos-re...
everything that is going on
By Fitz
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:36pm
What a dumb statement. There is literally nothing more important than the world itself and plastic bags are helping to destroy it. Open a book.
Whataboutism
By anon
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:05pm
Is for children.
Be quiet now. Grownups are talking about the serious environmental impact of plastic bags on our ecosystem. Just because you choose not to do your homework, doesn't mean that you get to derail grownup discussion.
But what about...
By dmcboston
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 8:54pm
...the people that have to carry their dog shit around with them instead of placing it in the (closed for the winter because frozen dogshit is no fun) solar powered dogshit containers AG wrote about last week?
They recycle their bags.
The great thing about plastic
By anon
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 7:57am
The great thing about plastic is it doesn't disappear. Ask around to your neighbors for all the bags they have wadded up in a corner somewhere.
That's the problem.
By dmcboston
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 11:48am
UV light breaks down plastic. Ask any greenhouse operator.
So, throw the bags up into the trees and eventually they will break down.
On a more serious note, the plastic is a petrochemical product. Separate them out, put them in a landfill, in a while (a long while) they might be worth mining.
Gotta think of the future.
Keeping plastic out of the ocean is great. Look up 'drift net fish kills'. Nets are like Martians on 'War of the Worlds'.
What?
By ElizaLeila
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 8:04am
No they don't.
Right
By perruptor
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 8:34am
They re-use them once. They don't recycle them.
Years ago...
By dmcboston
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 9:34am
...a guy in Arizona built a house out of old beer bottles and adobe mud.
The article praised him for recycling the bottles. Yet, they were only used twice.
I'd say that every time that
By blues_lead
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 11:56am
I'd say that every time that house shelters him or his stuff or his friends/family from something, those bottles are being used
Empty out the turds
By Kaz
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 2:02pm
Dump out the turds, keep the bag for next time.
Then you're recycling them.
Two things
By Gary C
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 1:31pm
1) Typo: "a fee for getting store-supplied fees..."
2) What is the definition of a "thin" bag versus a "thicker" bag?
P.S. People! You cannot put plastic bags into the recycling bins. I guess people will just never get that.
Recycling bins
By downtown-anon
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:03pm
Boston has been encouraging people to use plastic bags over recycling bins for recycled trash for a few years now.
What
By EM Painter
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:18pm
Are we supposed to bag the recycling in plastic bags?
Depends where you live
By anon
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 5:07pm
From what I understand, if you live in a neighborhood that uses the blue recycle bins, you are not supposed to put any plastic bags in with the recycling.
I think some neighborhoods use clear plastic bags instead of the blue bins.
Most stores take them back
By dmcboston
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 8:54pm
Most stores take them back. They have bins in the front accessway of the store for that purpose.
Per Boston.gov
By ElizaLeila
Mon, 12/04/2017 - 3:34pm
https://www.boston.gov/departments/public-works/re...
A fee for paper bags is ridiculous
By SteveE
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 1:35pm
This seems to mirror Cambridge's bag policy, though with lower paper bag costs (Cambridge is 10 cents). I prefer Somerville's policy where you get free paper bags. Sometimes you didn't intend to go to the supermarket and you don't have your bags. In Cambridge and soon Boston, you'll be "taxed" because of that. If a merchant is willing to give away free paper bags, that should be their choice. This law should have allowed for the bag surcharge if the store decided it was in their best interest (to make up for their difference in cost between paper and plastic).
RE Pressley's remarks: free paper bags would have addressed the issue for low income residents and seniors.
RE O'Malley's remarks: the dire environmental concern only applies to the plastic bags, not paper (so paper should be free).
You aren't being "taxed" for
By Kinopio
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:07pm
You aren't being "taxed" for forgetting bags. You are being taxed for being wasteful. All that litter and pollution costs countless dollars to clean up. You can't go a block in this city without seeing a plastic bag stuck in a tree, tossed on the sidewalk etc. Other cities and entire countries have solved this issue by banning plastic bags. We would be dumb to not follow programs that have been proven to work.
Paper bags are wasteful too if not recycled. Its not hard to keep a reusable bag in your purse, backpack, bike basket, trunk etc.
It is hard to keep enough
By anon
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:53pm
It is hard to keep enough reusable bags for a full grocery load in my backpack. It's really easy to keep enough plastic bags.
How many countless dollars has Cambridge saved in litter and pollution costs since their bag ban started? Nobody knows, since nobody is even asking that question. It's not about practical problem solving -- it's about appearance.
If you really want an answer ...
By adamg
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:34pm
Contact Matt O'Malley's office. He and his staff spent several months talking to officials in other cities with nag bans and collected specific numbers (some of which he quoted today, but I'm at a Starbucks without my laptop).
Who are you and what have you done with our Adam?
By Brighton-ite
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 8:56pm
Starbucks? I thought you were a die hard Duncan's Donuts fan.
Ouch
By adamg
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 10:02pm
But, alas, I needed to make a Target run (the earbuds I use with my scanner budded their last and I have a Target gift card) and they have a Starbucks built right in (OK and true confession: Sometimes, if I'm running late and don't have time to make breakfast before I head downtown for a licensing hearing, I'll go to the News Cafe, or whatever it's called, across from City Hall, which serves Starbucks, rather than one of the 62,000 Dunkin' Donuts downtown because it has seats and I can put as much milk in my coffee as I like).
You, sir
By cynical
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 11:42pm
Are a monster.
reality
By johnmcboston
Fri, 12/01/2017 - 11:38am
So you can now rest easy. The plastic earbuds you'll buy in their plastic packaging, that you will be paying for with your plastic gift card - will be given to you in a paper bag to take home. World saved
:-)
Nobody is going to stop you
By Matt
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:42pm
Nobody is going to stop you from bringing plastic bags with you, they just won't give them to you.
They won't sell plastic bags
By anon
Fri, 12/01/2017 - 6:29pm
They won't sell plastic bags to me either. Since they can't, by law.
Maybe I'll buy them on Amazon. What's the environmental cost of that?
Depends on the reusable bags
By Amian
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:59pm
I usually have at least one thin nylon bag (ecosax or similar) that folds up to about 2"×3" in my back pack at all times. Easily holds a good sized grocery shop (about what a conventional paper bag does, or a bit more). I've never had one wear out or tear, machine washable, and tiny. Won't be without them.
Not the cheapest out there
By butdoihaveto
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 6:51pm
But I agree with your position in appearance. Just like the Prius craze when an affordable, feasible hybrid hit the market.
And get a lovebag, they fold up to the size of a child’s fist. They’re strong, and can fit a bunch of stuff in them (I can easily carry a quick trip to Roche Bros)
The tax comment was for the
By SteveE
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:07pm
The tax comment was for the people who feel that anytime they have to pay more for something, it is a "tax". I don't agree and that's why I put it in quotes.
The point of this ban wasn't to cut down on waste in general, it was to eliminate the use of single-use plastic bags, which pollute the environment because 1) they don't break down and 2) they're littered all around town.
The paper bags are recyclable and break down in a fairly short time.
The 5 (or 10) cent fee for everywhere else in the country is to get buy-in from merchants who now have to buy more expensive bags. Paper and recyclable plastic bags cost A LOT more than the cheap bags we're used to. Remember, the merchant keeps this bag fee, it doesn't go to recycling programs, etc. It should have been worded as an option for the merchant to charge if they feel it makes business sense to them. What kind of bizarre law is "every business must sell recyclable bags as a unique item, but they can't sell them for less than x price."
Well...
By dmcboston
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 9:01pm
"What kind of bizarre law is "every business must sell recyclable bags as a unique item, but they can't sell them for less than x price.""
Government orders you to sell something, then sets the price.
I have no idea what that's called. Maybe some Really Smart Anon can tell us how that works.
Rolls Eyes
By anon
Fri, 12/01/2017 - 12:13pm
You are truly specious.
Why do you expect free stuff?
By lbb
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 8:56am
It costs money to produce bags. It costs money to deal with their disposal. Why do you want a free ride?
Plastic bags cost a fraction
By anon
Fri, 12/01/2017 - 6:31pm
Plastic bags cost a fraction of a cent. That's why virtually every store felt it was worth it to give them away.
Now they can't sell them at any price.
Is there a way
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:02pm
To recover a ballot and erase a filled-in oval? I would like to do that with my ballot and Michelle Wu.
Democracy requires an informed electorate
By Waquiot
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:20pm
She didn't exactly flip flop on this. Sure, the optics are there (members avoiding talking about this on the campaign trail) but I believe her views on the matter were well known.
Eluded me
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:25pm
I didn't see "I'm a greedy statist pig who wants to tax people 5 cents for using plastic bags without giving people 5 cents for using canvas bags" on her website. Just the usual "my family was immigrants!" boilerplate claptrap I see from people who seek municipal office.
Who's going to pay for trash disposal, Will?
By Bob Leponge
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:50pm
Which do you prefer:
I would have thought you would prefer the former. Charging for bags is a step in that direction.
It's a step in the direction of taxation
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:01pm
A step in the direction of sincere concern for waste collection and the environment would be a deposit on plastic bags, not a tax.
So this is two steps in the right direction then
By zetag
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:11pm
Just buy a reusable bag for a dollar and then get of my lawn.
How is that?
By Bob Leponge
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 7:17pm
How is "Charging the user of something for what it actually costs, rather than the taxpayers at large footing the bill," a step towards taxation?
Why do you want free stuff?
By lbb
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 8:57am
Why do you expect to get a free bag? Why do you expect to be able to throw it anywhere you want and have others deal with the consequences?
It's not free
By Will LaTulippe
Thu, 11/30/2017 - 9:31am
The store pays for it, and they pass the cost to me. Then I put it in my garbage, and my landlord pays for waste collection, and passes the cost to me.
Why don't stores charge for
By anon
Fri, 12/01/2017 - 6:33pm
Why don't stores charge for the rubber band holding the blueberry container shut? Or the twist-tie on the bread bag?
Because the cost is minuscule.
Who votes for a Harvard Elitist
By anon
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:21pm
/Chicago Socialist? Her being elected in Roslindale shows how fast the neighborhood is being gentrified.
Not from Boston?
By adamg
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:04pm
I ask because a Boston resident who feels compelled to comment on a city councilor might know that she's an at-large councilor, which means she has to get votes everywhere (also, she first got elected while still living in the South End).
ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!
By anon
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:48pm
Scary educated people who give a crap are ... are ... ELECTED TO RUN THINGS IN THE CITY!!!
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!1!!!!!!11!!!1!!
This bill was filed in
By Fitz
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:40pm
This bill was filed in January and Wu was a co-sponsor. It has been in the media since. You just don't pay attention. Low information voter here. Spend less time on pointless screeds and more time educating yourself on what actually is going on. Sad.
Even earlier
By adamg
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 10:09pm
O'Malley and Wu set up a task force on the issue in August, 2016. It was in all the papers (and here). But because the council didn't act before Dec. 31, they had to re-file the measure for the new year, because that's how the council rolls.
I think this is an excellent
By cden4
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:21pm
I think this is an excellent idea. We have way too many cheap plastic bags creating a lot of waste. (I'm looking at you CVS.) They're not even reusable because they are so thin and crappy.
I was prepared to get snarky
By anon
Sun, 12/03/2017 - 6:16am
I was prepared to get snarky because I depend on grocery bags to scoop the cat box, but you're absolutely right. I have to double-bag because even after the lightest use, there are gaping holes in the bottom seam.
Anyone objecting care to
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:23pm
volunteer to remove some plastic bags from their local waterway?
I quote the EPA website:
Anyone want to take a swim in the great Pacific garbage patch of plastic next weekend?
I kayak the Charles regularly
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:27pm
I will often pick up trash floating in the water, and put it in the boat to discard on shore.
I also oppose this tax.
Cut the crap...
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:30pm
This isn't your Tinder profile. You could give two shits about the environment, given your seemingly nihilistic comments in this forum.
Tinder?
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 3:02pm
Pfft, that app's for losers. I'm a Bumble guy. I like the ladies who are really trying to get some, not the fakes.
Yes!
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:04pm
Bumble. Bumble, indeed.
In case you missed it on CBS last night
By Gary C
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 4:29pm
Bumbles bounce!
Good! I'm tired of see these
By Finn
Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:29pm
Good! I'm tired of see these things ending up in trees and sewer grates, where they end up in waterways. Now if only the state legislature banned plastic-bottled water, and if failing that, mandate a deposit on all plastic bottles of water and juice that end up littering streets and ending up in sewers as well. You can carry a reusable bag, you can carry a reusable water bottle too.
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