Some towns have already established their policies on plastic and paper bags, as well as on Styrofoam containers. Others are considering or have considered ordinances, many of them modeled on – but not exact copies of – Portland’s. Here’s the lowdown:
BRUNSWICK
PARAMETERS: Advocates with Bring Your Own Bag Midcoast are aiming for an ordinance based on Portland’s 5-cent fee on plastic and paper and a ban on polystyrene containers. The group hopes a Brunswick ordinance would extend the bag fee to all retail stores.
TIMELINE: In January, a group of 17 residents, half from Topsham, half from Brunswick, began meeting to talk about an ordinance for both communities. They’ve since set up information booths at 22 events, created a website and collected 850 signatures on a petition asking for an ordinance.
NEXT STEP: The Town Council could discuss the bag issue on Oct. 19.
FALMOUTH
PARAMETERS: Falmouth could become the first community to outright ban single-use plastic bags. Eventually. But for the first year, the ordinance would apply to just six stores in town that are bigger than 10,000 square feet, and both plastic and paper bags would be subject to the fee.
EXCEPTIONS: Dry cleaning, raw meats, seafood and other leaky foods could still be packed in plastic bags.
TIMELINE: The recycling committee studied the issue for a year and considered instituting a ban. At a September public hearing, speakers were about 10 to 2 in favor of either a fee or ban on single-use bags. The ordinance committee met this past week and is likely to recommend a fee.
NEXT STEP: The Falmouth Town Council is likely to vote on the ordinance before the end of October.
FREEPORT
PARAMETERS: Freeport may also be vying for the title of first in Maine to ban plastic bags outright, likely phased in over the course of at least a year.
EXCEPTIONS: The proposed options would allow exceptions for produce bags, newspaper bags and in inclement weather, bags for books.
TIMELINE: Two Freeport High School students researched the issue for their senior project and went before the Town Council in 2014. Surveys found that more residents and retailers opposed a ban than a fee system; in Freeport 80 percent of business owners already don’t use plastic bags.
NEXT STEP: To be determined, likely at the Oct. 13 ordinance committee meeting. The Town Council has the power to pass an ordinance on its own but the ordinance committee could recommend that the issue be put to voters instead.
KENNEBUNK
PARAMETERS: Initial efforts were based on the Portland model.
TIMELINE: The town’s energy efficiency advisory committee began discussing a fee on plastic bags in June 2014. When the Board of Selectmen declined to put a nonbinding question to the voters to gauge interest, the committee asked residents to weigh in on a survey. About 400 people responded; most did not support a fee.
NEXT STEP: The committee was given funds to purchase and give away reusable bags to residents. More than 1,000 have already been given away.
PORTLAND
PARAMETERS: Getting a single-use, carry-out plastic or paper bag will cost you 5 cents. The city also banned polystyrene foam containers (Styrofoam) for food and drink.
EXCEPTIONS: The fees don’t apply at farmers markets, dry cleaners, restaurants or at stores where the sale of food is less than 2 percent of gross sales.
TIMELINE: Advocates began pushing for it in 2011. The City Council approved the ordinance in June 2014; it went into effect on April 15.
NEXT STEP: Around the one-year anniversary of enactment, advocates will likely revisit Back Cove to collect and analyze litter to see how the ordinance has affected the composition of that litter.
SOUTH PORTLAND
PARAMETERS: Modeled on Portland’s. Getting a plastic or paper bag will soon cost you 5 cents here. Stores get to keep the fee for the bags. The city also banned polystyrene foam containers for food and drink.
EXCEPTIONS: Businesses are exempt if no more than 2 percent of gross sales are foodstuffs. Raw seafood can still be packaged in polystyrene.
TIMELINE: South Portland’s City Council discussed the fee/ban in early August and approved the ordinance in September.
NEXT STEP: The ordinance goes into effect on March 1, 2016.
TOPSHAM
PARAMETERS: A group called Bring Your Own Bag Midcoast is advocating for an ordinance based on Portland’s 5 cent fee on plastic and paper bags and a ban on polystyrene containers. The group hopes an ordinance would extend the bag fee to all retail stores.
TIMELINE: The group has been meeting with advocates from neighboring Brunswick since January. They’ve set up information booths at 22 events, created a website and thus far collected 850 signatures on a petition asking for an ordinance.
NEXT STEP: If the Board of Selectmen recommends the issue for a vote, it could be put to Topsham citizens at the next Town Meeting in March 2016.
YORK
PARAMETERS: An advocacy group called Bring Your Own Bag York started with the Portland model but in discussions with the Board of Selectmen, the ordinance evolved into an outright ban on single-use plastic carry out bags from all retail establishments. No rule was set on whether establishments should charge for paper bags in their place.
EXCEPTIONS: Plastic bags for dry cleaning, newspapers, produce, seafood, bulk foods and wet items.
TIMELINE: Bring Your Own Bag York formed in 2013. This February, the group proposed an ordinance for York. The Board of Selectmen voted in August to support it.
NEXT STEP: Voters will have a chance to weigh in on Election Day, Nov. 3. If they adopt the ordinance, it goes into effect four months later.
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