Boston's ban on thin plastic shopping bags starts at city stores tomorrow, which means you'll either have to bring your own bags or get charged 5 cents for each of the thicker plastic or paper bags the stores will offer as an alternative.
The ban, the brainchild of City Councilors Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) and Michelle Wu (at large), is intended to reduce the amount of flying trash that winds up in Boston trees, streets and waterways, bring down the amount of greenhouse gases used to make the things and to reduce problems at the company that handles recycled waste for the city, where workers currently spend several hours a day fishing the pesky bags out of their equipment.
O'Malley has estimated Boston residents use 357 million of the things every year.
Fans of dry cleaning, newspapers and fresh fish can relax - the ban does not apply to the bags used to keep freshly cleaned clothes clean, to keep newspapers dry or to keep fish and other food products from leaking all over the other stuff in your recyclable shopping bag on the way home.
The city will immediately begin inspections of large stores - over 20,000 square feet - to ensure compliance. Stores between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet will have until April 1 to worry about snap plastic-bag inspections; smaller stores until July 1.
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because i care
By Luke Warm
Thu, 12/13/2018 - 4:19pm
i won't react to this by no longing bagging my dog's shit. but it's so tempting
"Everyone knows" this is
By anon
Thu, 12/13/2018 - 5:30pm
"Everyone knows" this is better for the environment.
But where's the data?
Where around Boston are places like the Recycling Center in Camb
By theszak
Thu, 12/13/2018 - 5:45pm
Where around Boston neighborhoods are places like in Cambridge where at the Recycling Center https://www.cambridgema.gov/TheWorks/OurServices/R... folks can drop off other recyclables not picked up for recycling at the curb?
years in a tree
By anony-mouse
Thu, 12/13/2018 - 5:39pm
A cheap grocery plastic bag sat high up in a tree near my house for (I believe) 5 or 6 years before the shreds finally flew away.
I personally dislike carrying extra bags around when I walk, and I re-purpose most of my grocery bags for a lot of different uses, so I'm sure there will be a few pain points, but I'm eager to see how this works. In the end, I predict we'll be used to it and forget this entire conversation within a couple of years.
Thanks to colleges
By Daan
Fri, 12/14/2018 - 12:28am
Boston is a backpack town. I don't think other cities, without a 100,000 population increase every school year, has backpacks as part of it's local dress style. Plastic bags cant join the various other articles that sit in backpacks (books, paper, documents, guns...).
Not just colleges
By anon
Fri, 12/14/2018 - 9:46am
Like European cities, many people get around by walking and biking.
That means panniers, backpacks, tote bags, messenger bags, and other conveyances for everyday items including tiny folded up packets that turn into shopping bags and fit in even a tiny purse.
Another scam. Maybe Al Gore
By Carmella
Fri, 12/14/2018 - 10:47am
Another scam. Maybe Al Gore will give you a ride on his private jet or his diesel powered yacht.
Another smack in the head
By anon
Fri, 12/14/2018 - 5:15pm
To the lower and middle class citizens of Boston.
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