EASTHAMPTON — The conversation around whether to ban single-use plastic bags is scheduled to continue at a public forum Wednesday.
The meeting of the City Council Ordinance Subcommittee will be held at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the Municipal Building at 50 Payson Ave.
The forum is the next step in what Councilor Tamara Smith said will be a “slow and deliberate process” of the City Council considering whether to craft an ordinance banning the use of single-use shopping bags, such as those used at grocery stores.
“There are a lot of different aspects of this to consider,” Smith said at a May hearing on the proposal. “There are a lot of different options.”
At that meeting, much of the discussion centered around arguments of convenience versus environmental stewardship as residents offered differing views of how the city could go about cutting down on plastic.
Among the suggestions was a ban on plastic bags and a mandatory fee for paper bags, a move that resident Elaine Wood said would encourage the use of reusable bags.
Several people voiced support for exempting certain plastic bags, such as the Eco Hippo bags used by Big E’s Supermarket. But others pointed out that those bags are still made of plastic and do not biodegrade.
At less than three millimeters thick, Eco Hippo bags are still considered suitable for only single use under Northampton’s ordinance and are therefore banned from being distributed in that city.
Northampton’s ban on plastic bags began on Jan. 1. Businesses that have trouble affording the change to non-plastic bags can apply for a “hardship deferment,” which allows them to continue using plastic bags.
Brown paper bags are now the default used by Northampton merchants.
Amherst Town Meeting in May voted to prohibit single-use plastic bags beginning Jan. 1, 2017.
The bans in both Northampton and Amherst exempt certain plastic bags such as those used for deli meats and newspapers.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.