By Barry Lytton
Updated Sep 24, 2018 3:48 p.m.
Mahabubur Kahn, a bagger at ShopRite, bags a customers order on April. 27, 2018 in non-recyclable plastic bags and reusable shopping bags. The store on Stamford's Westside is one of 11 owned and operated by Cingari family. It is hoping customers will be spurred to bring their own reusable bags as Stamford's Board of Representatives look to draft an ordinance that would prohibit the use of non-recyclable plastic bags. The store was offering a free reusable bag to shoopers this weekend.
Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media
STAMFORD — A quick stop at a shop in the city could soon be more costly with a dime charged for each bag you use to take new goodies home.
The city’s Board of Representatives will next week take up whether to have the strongest plastic-bag ban in the state, one that outlaws plastic and requires retailers charge 10 cents for each paper bag used. The proposed ordinance, as unanimously recommended for adoption at a recent Legislative and Rules Committee hearing, has been well received in City Hall, with nearly all public input in strong support of the ordinance.
If approved, Stamford would be the third town to outlaw plastic bags and the first to charge for paper ones.
Unlike bans in Westport and Greenwich — passed in 2008 and earlier this year, respectively — the Stamford law is less a straight-out ban, and more “an ordinance to promote re-usability,” said city Rep. Johnathan Jacobson, D-12, who introduced the ordinance in its current from.
The other towns do not include a paper-bag charge.
Paper bags, while less damaging than plastic, are still an environmental menace, Jacobson said. Public speakers at the hearing last Thursday, some from Greenwich and Westport, lauded the city for the ordinance’s teeth and said it goes further to cut back on the damaging affects of our throw-away habit.
Single-use paper bags contribute to deforestation and even the emissions from trucks that carry them to town have harmful impacts, speakers and Jacobson said.
The ordinance calls for the paper bags be 100 percent recyclable, contain at least 40 percent recycled content and “conspicuously display” a phrase akin to “please recycle this bag.”
The idea of banning plastic bags in the city, kicked around in City Hall since last summer, started under former city Rep. Eileen Heaphy, D-8, who sought to see a ban enacted before her term ended last year.
“Before I left, I said I thought we should do this and I’ve very glad that Jonathan Jacobson jumped on it.” Heaphy said at the hearing. “I think we’ve got a really good draft here.”
Some board members have harbored concerns that the 10 cent charge for paper bags would harm lower-income residents, thrusting another fee on them they could ill afford.
To alleviate the worry, the ordinance includes exemptions. Those on government assistance, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), would not need to pay the 10 cent fee.
The ordinance puts the onus on retailers, who, in turn, collect the 10 cents to implement the law. The city does not make any money from the law, unless a shop is found in repeated noncompliance and fined $250. That money would be earmarked for enforcing the law, Jacobson said.
“The city of Stamford cannot touch a dime of the charge,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson said he hopes the ordinance will pass as written, but would be happy with just a ban. Some board members have told him they do not like the charge provision, and see no need in having a stricter law than surrounding towns.
A Wesport woman who helped craft that town’s ban, said at last week’s hearing that the fee didn’t come up 10 years ago. But she vouched for the addition in Stamford’s version. Similarly, a woman from Greenwich — where a 25 cent fee was scrapped — said she supports Stamford’s proposal.
The full board will take up the matter Monday at 8 p.m. in legislative chambers in City Hall.
If passed and signed into law by Mayor David Martin, the law would go into effect in six months, granting businesses time to get in compliance.
barry.lytton@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2263; @bglytton
Sep 24, 2018|Updated Sep 24, 2018 3:48 p.m.
Barry Lytton
Comentários