SPRINGFIELD – The ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, that clogs recycling efforts and creates literally tons on non-degradable waste, would be an endangered species in Springfield if the City Council approves an ordinance banning the bags.

City Council took the first of three votes to make an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags from retailers in the city a reality at its meeting on March 4.

Northampton instituted a ban on Jan. 1, 2016. Boston adopted a similar ban that took effect Dec. 14, 2018.

Although the council voted unanimously Councilor Marcus Williams, however, suggested the ordinance should be approved by a referendum vote, something that Councilor Kateri Walsh supported.

The legislations spearheaded by Councilor Jesse Lederman, who said the new law is “the end of a long process. This puts us in line with other communities across the Commonwealth, the country and the world.”

The ordinance would institute a ban for stores larger than 10,00 square feet 12 months after its passage for stores less than 10,000 square feet 18 months after the passage. The time is to allow stores to exhaust the stock of plastic bags and to make a transition easier.

Lederman explained to his colleagues that stores would have the option of selling paper bags at 5 cents each as a way to encourage the use of reusable shopping bags. There are already retailers such as Aldi that don’t offer the single-use bags, he said.

The fee would “go a long fee to encourage folks to their own bag,” he added.

Lederman noted as well that Big Y has already started a program that would phase out single use bags by 2020.

Lederman said that “tens of millions” of the bags were discarded in Springfield. The bags, he explained cannot be recycled and end up in the trash. When people include them in their recycling bins, those bins are diverted to the city’s trash facility instead. The bags never truly degrade, he said and research has shown the bags create “micro-plastics” that are now turning up in the water supplies.

The ordinance, which was shared with members of the council, does not include bags in which loose produce are places by a shopper; laundry or dry cleaner bags; newspaper bags or bags which contain or wrap produce, frozen food, meat or fish. Other bags not affected by the law would include non-plastic bags without handles in which food is placed and paper bags provided by a pharmacy to a customer purchasing prescription medicine.

The city’s Department of Health and Human Services, which already sends inspectors into retailers that sell tobacco, would check on bag use twice a year Lederman explained. The stores, if in violation, would receive a warning followed by a $50 fine for a first offense and $100 for every subsequent offense. The ordinance restricts no more than one fine can be imposed upon a retailer within a seven-day period.   

Symphony Hall

In other action, the council approves an allocation of $110,000 to pay for an interim management fee to MGM for Symphony Hall. As Chief Administrative and Finance Officer T.J. Plante explained the fee allows the city to have an entity manage the hall through the end of June, fulfilling the booking of graduations and other events.  

MGM was one of two companies, Plante said, that applied for the management job through a Request for Proposal process. The contract for a five-year term as manager, which would include the option for two five-year extensions, is still be negotiated with MGM, Plante added.

Plante said the difference between the non-profit organization that had run the facility and having a for-profit company do it is the city would pay MGM to run the building and the profits would go to the city.

Plante also said there are issues with the building, such as upgrading the sound system that will be the city’s responsibility, as the city owns the building.

Bikes on sidewalks

Councilor Tim Allen explained an ordinance to allow the riding of bicycles, non-motorized scooters and skateboards on sidewalks was to line up the city’s law with the state’s law and to acknowledge some of the city’s streets can present a safety hazard for riders.   

The ordinance states, “Manually-propelled vehicles, such as bicycles, manual push scooters and skateboards, may be ridden on sidewalks within the city of Springfield located outside the Metro Center District as defined by the city of Springfield Office of Planning & Economic Development. The Metro Center District shall include that territory in the City of Springfield bounded by Rte. 291 to the north, Union and Howard Streets to the south, Federal Street to the east and the Connecticut River to the west.”

The city has installed bike lanes downtown for the safety of riders, something that doesn’t extend through the city.

The council voted in favor of the ordinance.