EASTHAMPTON — Would a proposed city ban on the use of plastic bags outlaw kitchen trash-can liners? Would someone caught with a plastic grocery store bag be subject to punishment? And what exactly constitutes a reusable bag?
City Councilor Tamara Smith answered these and other questions at a public forum held Wednesday on a possible ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, such as those used by grocery stores, as residents weighed in on the merits of such a prohibition.
Meantime, Easthampton’s consideration of a ban has caught the attention of a national lobbying group that opposes limiting shoppers’ bag choices.
The meeting was the second in a series of public forums held by the City Council Ordinance Subcommittee as it considers drafting a measure to restrict plastic bag use. Subcommitee Chairman Salem Derby said he expects the subcommittee will soon draft an ordinance and present it at a public forum in order to gather more reaction from residents before consideration by the full council.
Smith, a professor of sociology at Westfield State University, delivered a 30-minute presentation of research regarding shopping bags she conducted with the assistance of Ann Hallstein, an Easthampton resident and retired librarian of the U.S. Library of Congress. Hallstein helped ensure that the information Smith relied on was not funded by a group with a business interest in a certain outcome.
“There is a lot of competing scientific data out there and the sources of the data and who is funding the studies is just as important as what the data is saying,” she said.
Smith said she noticed residents speaking at a forum held in May were divided over whether paper or plastic bags are more environmentally friendly. “I’ve noticed those arguments come from different parts of the life cycle of a bag,” she said.
Some people, for example, focus on the fact that production of paper consumes more resources than the production of plastic, she said, while others center their arguments on the fact that plastic cannot fully break down, and so causes potential harm to animals and the ecosystem.
At the May forum, there were several vocal fans of the Eco Hippo bag used by Big E’s Supermarket on Union Street. That bag is made out of recycled industrial polyethylene plastic.
“When we look at the Hippo bag, you’re not using additional sources of polyethylene, but you’re not reducing what’s out there,” Smith said.
Any ban would be strictly against the distribution of plastic shopping bags by an Easthampton retailer. It would not include trash bags, nor would residents be prohibited from possessing plastic shopping bags that might be banned from distribution, Smith said.
Based on her research, Smith defined single-use bags as those less than 3 mils (one-thousandth of an inch) thick, while reusable bags are more than 4 mils thick.
Neighboring Northampton enacted a ban on single-use plastic bags Jan. 1.
PJ Niver said that in crafting an ordinance, the specificity of language will be crucial. She said she’s worried that retailers would simply offer thicker plastic bags that might be exempt from an Easthampton single-use ban, even though many shoppers would use them one time.
Niver said she would be interested in hearing more about compostable plastic bags, which are made out of plant material.
Christine Laverdiere, the manager at New England Felting Supply, raised concerns about a plastic bag ban. “I’m just here to say yes, it would greatly impact our business,” she said. “It really would be a great financial strain on our business.”
Felt products get ruined by moisture, which means plastic bags help protect customers’ purchases when it is raining, she said.
Laverdiere also expressed concern about whether a plastic bag ban would prohibit the use of plastic in shipping customers’ purchases. Derby said it would not be the intention of the ordinance to target packing products.
Jo Landers said she’s opposed to an outright ban of plastic bags unless it also includes paper bags.
She said she would also like to see The BagShare Project expanded. The program offers reusable bags to be borrowed at various retailers in the Valley. But Big E’s and Family Dollar, for example, do not have BagShare stations. The city could offer an incentive to retailers who install a station at their stores by giving them a small tax break or requiring retailers without a BagShare station to obtain a “bag permit.”
Joel Keefe, owner of Triple C Farm Stand on East Street, asked whether produce bags would be exempt, whether the city would provide an incentive for the use of bags other than those intended for a single use and whether seasonal businesses such as his would be exempted.
“You just gave us some food for thought,” Derby said. “It’s probably not as good as your corn.”
Smith said it’s an “important next step” that a future meeting consider the cost differences among bags, including paper and plastic.
A representative for plastic industry lobbying group American Progressive Bag Alliance reached out to the Gazette earlier this week offering an interview with one of its officials.
The alliance’s policy chairman, Philip R. Rozenski, said Easthampton ought to study its waste stream to determine whether a ban on plastic bags would have any impact on what it is sending to landfills. “When you’re looking at a policy, you should start by conducting research,” he said.
Any city ordinance should have clear research to back up what problems it intends to fix, such as reducing the amount of plastic bags that are disposed of by residents, he said.
Sometimes bag bans can have unintended consequences.
Rozenski cited a 2015 study conducted by the city of Austin, Texas, after it banned single-use plastic bags. The study examined the waste that was being created in the city before and after the ban. It revealed that although fewer single-use plastic bags were thrown out, a larger number of heavier plastic bags intended to be reusable were now being thrown out.
Rozenski said he believes that shows that reusable bags actually cause more harm than single-use bags. Bag ban ordinances are simply “feel-good legislation,” he said.
He suggested that any action by Easthampton officials focus on education: efforts to reduce the use of plastic bags and how to reuse or recycle them.
Clint Richmond, a policy volunteer for the Sierra Club of Massachusetts, said Easthampton should approach a potential ban on plastic bags in a comprehensive manner that bans the worst option for bags, polyethylene single-use bags, and requires that replacement paper bags have a minimum level of recycled content (usually 40 percent).
Additionally, the city should have a robust definition of reusable bags so as to ensure the bags are not being thrown away as in Austin. The reusable bags should be ones of such quality that they cost about $1 at the supermarket, Richmond said.
He said the city can help low-income residents by sponsoring a bag drive or buying bags in bulk, for example.
Other options, which the Sierra Club does not see as mandatory in an ordinance, include offering compostable bags as an option for those who really want to use a plastic bag and setting a minimum fee for the use of a paper bag, which is often 10 cents, he said.
For Richmond, paper is always better than plastic.
“When you’re choosing any sustainable packaging you want to choose something that’s natural material so at the end of its life, it’s biodegradable,” he said. “Plastic is just bad, bad, bad. If you recycle it, it doesn’t suddenly become good.”
Plastic simply breaks down into smaller pieces of plastic, which then end up in oceans and other ecosystems. Paper, on the other hand, will eventually biodegrade completely and not adversely affect the health of animals, he said.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com