WEST SPRINGFIELD – At the West Springfield Town Council meeting on June 3, the Town Council voted to approve Councilor Sean Powers’ single-use plastic bag ban.

In a public hearing before the vote, a West Springfield resident shared, “I think this is a great move for our town. I’m excited that our town is looking at this environmental issue and being progressive in looking at plastic bans. My third grader is the one who told me we definitely should be doing this because he is learning about how plastic is harmful to sea animals and not good for the environment so I think it’s also an exciting move for our town to teach our children how to be good environmentalists.”

Before the vote took place, Powers explained the purpose of the single-use plastic bag ban.

“The purpose of this and the reason why I have proposed this is last year, when I participated in the Clean Up West Springfield Day. To me, walking around behind Home Depot and behind Costco and the Merrick Section, to see the amount of trash and the percentage of trash that was plastic bags was overwhelming,” Powers said.

Powers continued, “I’m not asking to ban plastic bags in general, although the overwhelming response on Facebook has been to do so. I’m not asking to say that you could only use paper bags. I’m just asking that we don’t use the plastic bags that take 800 years on average to decompose.”

Powers explained that the plastic bag ban has been discussed at the state level. “Right now, in the Commonwealth, there are about 100 municipalities plus that have banned or put some type of ordinance in place that specifies how you can use plastic bags in the community. From my understanding, there was something from a Committee at the State House that said as soon as August of 2019, this may be addressed. I don’t foresee that happening, I do see it coming up in the next few years,” Powers said.

Powers continued, “I don’t think we should wait for that. I think we need to be proactive. I think every positive step forward is a good step for the town. We are deemed a green community; I think we need to start following those guidelines or at least those ideas.”

The single-use plastic bag ban will apply to retail food or retail service establishments within the town of West Springfield. The ban will not affect plastic bags used for dry cleaning, newspapers, produce, meat, cheese, bulk food or wet items.

“This is a good start and this is a good, small first step,” Powers said.

Plastic bags are measured in “mils,” or thousandths of an inch. The ban will affect any plastic bag thicker than 2.5 mils.

A single-use plastic bag costs a business on average 3 cents per bag. For a paper bag, the cost on average for a business is 17 cents per bag. If a business were to elect to use biodegradable bags that compost within 45-60 days, the cost on average would be 23 cents per bag.

“This is something that is a positive step for the town. It’s not a massive burden on local businesses. I wrote this specifically for local businesses,” Powers said.

Powers continued, “I’ve actually talked to business owners who are looking forward to this and saying, ‘Hey, it’s going to bring my cost down. I’m not actually really hurting from this, but if it brings my costs down because someone else is bringing a plastic bag or a reusable bag or a cloth bag in, that’s even better.’”

Councilor Nathan A. Bech voted against the ban. “I support a clean environment. I think it’s important. I also know the importance of inviting businesses to our community and being business friendly as more businesses set up or expand or continue to be successful takes pressure off the taxpayers. Keeping in mind a certain US Senator, George McGovern years ago, he left the senate and started a business and he voted on lots of policies that were great for the environment and great for all of these good causes and the he realized once he was running a business how these regulations make it very difficult to run a business. Constituents did reach out to me on this issue from that point of view. It is for that reason that I voted against this in subcommittee and I’m going to continue to vote against it tonight but thank you for your hard work,” Bech said.

Councilor Bruce L. Gendron questioned the impact of the ban on large retail businesses. “What about the Costcos and Stop and Shops and that sort of thing? Do we put them in an awkward position, those companies with multiple locations? What we do in West Springfield, does that force them to buy two different things? Is this anti-business?,” Gendron asked.

“I’m not necessarily concerned whether it’s anti-business because I don’t think it’s going to hurt them overall. With the amount of towns and communities in Massachusetts itself already that have put in such ordinances or zoning codes, they’ve already had to deal with this,” Powers said.

Town Council President George D. Condon III shared a photograph of litter that was picked up along Western Avenue in West Springfield to explain his point of view on the plastic bag ban.

“Just out of curiosity, the weekend before the Clean Up West Side Day, I actually had one of my employees go over on Western Avenue and pick up the garbage on the side of that street,” Condon said, holding up the photo.

Condon continued, “I was kind of shocked that there’s maybe three plastic bags in this photo. But the bulk of it is not plastic bags. I’m actually surprised at how much of it is plastic water bottles, juice bottles, sports bottles. And then we get into all the other plastic cups and things like that from fast food restaurants and I’m wondering if the energy wouldn’t be better spent on getting a nickel deposit to recycle [bottles] considering the complaints that happen.”

In a vote of 5-4, the ban will not take effect for one year.

The ban allows for two one-year exemptions from the bill for small businesses that can show financial effects.