EASTHAMPTON — During a Wednesday afternoon visit to the Nashawannuck Pond boardwalk with his children, City Councilor Salem Derby said the otherwise picturesque scene was marred by an unnatural intrusion.
“We were leaning over the edge of the boardwalk, and from our vantage point, we saw at least three … plastic bags in the water,” Derby said. “I’m sitting there eating my ice cream looking at these plastic bags that are in our pond, watching people fish from across the pond. These don’t degrade, they break down – into smaller pieces of plastic which the fish will eat.”
Speaking at a meeting Wednesday night of the City Council Ordinance Subcommittee, Derby said his anecdote was meant to illustrate the deluge of plastic bags that are not recycled, but end up in landfills, waterways or blowing down the street in the wind. The subcommittee, which Derby chairs, is considering crafting an ordinance banning or restricting the use of plastic shopping bags in Easthampton.
“It’s going to be a slow and deliberate process,” said Councilor Tamara Smith, who prompted the subcommittee to take up the issue. “There are a lot of different aspects of this to consider – there are a lot of different options.”
Some 20 people attended the 90-minute meeting to share their thoughts. No decision was made by the subcommittee and there was no clear consensus on what exactly is the best approach to regulate bag usage.
The Ordinance Subcommittee will meet again in the coming weeks to discuss the issue. If it approves a proposed ordinance, the measure would go to the full council for a vote.
“I cringe when I see all the paper bags in Northampton,” said Elaine Wood. Paper bags have largely become the only choice for Northampton shoppers who do not bring their own bags after the city’s ban on plastic took effect January 1.
And Wood said that Northampton should have gone further. She said she favors a ban on plastic bags and requiring that shoppers who opt to use paper bags be charged a fee. The goal is to provide a financial incentive for bringing reusable bags, she said.
Mandatory per-bag fees is one way that cities across the country have attempted to curb the distribution of one-time use shopping bags. In Washington, D.C., shoppers can take their pick of either paper or plastic at 5 cents apiece. The proceeds go to a fund to clean and protect the Anacostia River.
In Massachusetts, both Cambridge and Williamstown prohibit plastic shopping bags and impose a 10-cent fee for the use of paper ones. Proceeds from the fees in those communities go to the retailer.
Wood also said that financial assistance for the purchase of reusable bags should be provided to those with lower incomes. As part of its bag ordinance, Cambridge purchased 10,000 reusable bags for seniors and low-income residents.
Many at the meeting praised the bags provided by Big E’s, Easthampton’s only supermarket.
The store offers the Eco Hippo bag. The plastic polyethylene bag is made of recycled material by Crown Poly Inc. The company markets it as being 10 times stronger than standard grocery bags due to a reinforced strip on the bottom seal and as a green alternative to both paper and traditional plastic bags.
The bag is designed to reduce the need for extra bags or double bagging.
“I can put three or four two-liter bottles of soda in one of those plastic bags,” Dolores Conway of Pomeroy Street said. “You can’t put as many items in paper bags as you can a plastic bag.”
Conway and others, including Howard Street Resident Jo Landers, stressed that they find the Big E’s plastic bags are more easily reusable than paper bags. Several people thought those bag should be exempt from a plastic ban.
“This bag has been back and forth to the redemption center probably 10 or 15 times, based on how sticky it is,” Landers said, holding up an Eco Hippo bag containing a soda bottle. “I generally refuse bags from most of the vendors – I shop with canvas.”
But Landers uses the Big E’s bags for used cat litter and as a green alternative to trash bags, she said.
Pat Coon, who lives in Florence and owns a business in Easthampton, said she has not found much use for paper shopping bags. “I don’t know what do to with it besides throwing it in my paper recycling,” she said.
Others, however, said that though the Big E’s bags might be greener than other plastic bags, they are still made of plastic.
“Let’s not forget that oil goes into plastic, making plastic,” Ann Hallstein said.
At under three millimeters thick, Eco Hippo bags are still considered suitable for only a single use under Northampton’s ordinance and are therefore banned from being distributed in the city.
Mali Finch said the convenience of plastic bags is not worth the cost. “I think we need to ask ourselves if the environment is more important, or convenience,” she said.
Meantime, Johnny Daniele, owner of Nini’s Ristorante, said he was worried about another cost – the impact that a bag ban might have on Easthampton’s economy.
“To stamp this and say you cannot use plastic – it’s a little drastic,” he said. “I just don’t want it to inhibit new businesses to come to town.”
He said he would be in favor of a city initiative to promote the use of reusable bags rather than an ordinance prohibiting plastic ones.
Daniele’s economic argument sparked disagreement from several councilors.
District 2 City Councilor Jennifer Hayes said that people are attracted to Easthampton due to its community-mindedness – the fact that its residents care enough to come to a meeting to talk about banning plastic bags.
And Derby was perhaps thinking again about those bags littering Nasawannuck Poind.
“If you want to attract people to Easthampton, you need to have a place that’s attractive to come to,” he said.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.