EASTHAMPTON — Officials are asking the public to weigh in at a hearing Wednesday whether the city should ban or restrict the use of plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam containers.
The City Council Ordinance Subcommittee will accept comment from the public at its meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the basement conference room of the Municipal Building.
The subcommittee is in the early stages of examining whether to draft an ordinance banning or restricting the use of plastic bags, such as those commonly used at supermarkets, or polystyrene, which is commonly known as Styrofoam and used to make coffee cups and take-out containers.
At-large City Councilor Tamara Smith proposed that the council consider passing an ordinance.
“We’re still at the data collection point,” she said. “I really think a community decision like this needs to be vetted out by the entire community and not just a few people.”
In considering such a law, Smith said she was motivated by environmentally friendly initiatives already taking place in the city. Easthampton in 2010 was named a Green Community by the state, a designation that is determined based on energy conservation efforts.
The program, however, does not consider efforts to reduce the amount of waste produced by a community.
In a statement to the council, Smith wrote that the use of non-biodegradable plastics is a growing national crisis.
“The costs to the environment, to the economy, and to the health of our population have all been extensively researched and the results are consistent.”
Smith said the aim is to see what type of legislation would best benefit the businesses and residents of the city. “I see the plastic issue as more of a spectrum of options on a continuum,” she said.
In Massachusetts, communities have taken different approaches to limiting plastic waste.
Northampton, for example, banned the distribution of single-use plastic shopping bags beginning Jan. 1, 2016. The city’s ordinance exempts certain plastic bags, such as those used for deli meats, newspapers and dry cleaning. Businesses that have trouble affording the change to non-plastic bags can apply for a “hardship deferment.”
Brown paper bags are now the default used by Northampton merchants.
Amherst has not banned plastic bags, but prohibits the use of Styrofoam containers. That means that restaurants from Dunkin’ Donuts to Wings Over Amherst were forced to switch in 2014 from foam containers and cups to paper ones.
Bridgewater, south of Boston, earlier this year banned plastic bags. The ban affects stores in excess of 3,000 square feet or those with at least three locations in the state — leaving many “mom and pop” stores exempt.
Michael Superson, owner of Easthampton’s sole grocery store, said Big E’s has already made efforts to be more green.
The store offers both paper and, beginning a decade ago, the Eco Hippo bag. That bag labels itself as a green alternative to others.
“All you’ve got to do is read the bag,” Superson said.
Though the bags are made of plastic, the Hippo bag says it is stronger than other bags, made of 100 percent recycled plastic and has benefits compared to paper bags — its production generates 70 percent less greenhouse gas emissions and requires 91 percent less energy to recycle compared to paper.
“They generate so many less problems for the environment,” Superson said.
He said he initially paid more for the bags, which now cost about 4 cents each. Paper bags cost him about 10 cents each, while traditional plastic bags cost 3 cents.
Superson says Big E’s pushes for customers to use reusable bags, both for environmental reasons and to help the company’s bottom line.
Customers are given a 5-cent token for each reusable bag they bring, which they can either drop in a donation box for local charities or redeem it at their next visit to the supermarket.
Superson said he would be against a blanket ban of all plastic bags, because he considers the Hippo bags a more green alternative to other plastic and paper bags.
Eric Berzins and Stephanie Kellogg, of Easthampton, were shopping at Big E’s Monday morning. As they got to the checkout line, they were faced with the decision to use plastic bags after forgetting their reusable bags at home.
“Jae will attest that we always try to bring our reusable bags,” Berzins said, referring to cashier Jae Couture. “But a plastic bag is so convenient.”
When he does take home plastic bags, Berzins said he is sure to recycle them at the supermarket’s redemption center. But, he added, that doesn’t leave him feeling completely morally sound.
“You’ve always got a slightly heavy conscience,” he said.
Berzins, who is head brewer at Fort Hill Brewery, said he also puts the waste from his beer production to good use.
He donates his used barley malt bags to the BagShare Project, an organization that turns them into reusable shopping bags. Those bags are available to borrow at locations throughout the Valley, including Serio’s Market in Northampton and several farmers markets.
Kellogg, who in college did an art project on environmental awareness featuring woven-together plastic bags, suggested that the city mandate a charge for using plastic bags.
Shopper Jon Melanson, 37, of Easthampton, agreed that could be a sound policy.
But he said such a plan would need to really encourage using reusables — charging 10 cents per plastic bag rather than 5 cents — and that some of that money could go into a trust to pay for environmental cleanup.
He, too, was using plastic bags that day, but only because he was shopping for his work, Our Lady Childcare.
“They come in handy because we have to wrap soiled clothes,” he said.
Carolyn Downer, 75, of Easthampton said she, too, reuses her plastic bags for trash can liners.
She said she would be opposed to a plastic bag ban in favor of ramping up paper bag use.
“You’re cutting down trees aren’t ya?” Downer said.
There’s not much that can be done to repurpose a paper bag, she added.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.