[W]hen Brattleboro adopted its first-in-the-state ban on single-use plastic shopping bags a year ago, skeptics questioned everything from the inconvenience to the potential costs for low-income people.
But as Burlington, Manchester and Middlebury are set to vote on similar measures this March Town Meeting season, Brattleboro leaders report few problems since the prohibition’s start.
“It has been a real success and had an impact in reducing unnecessary plastic,” says Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland, who testified Tuesday before the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee considering a statewide proposal. “I can’t say everybody has been thrilled, but people have been pretty agreeable.”
Brattleboro’s ordinance that began July 1 prohibits businesses from using single-use plastic shopping bags, with penalties of $50 after the second notice of violation and $100 for subsequent offenses.
The town has received about a dozen reports of stores continuing to use such bags but found all were because shopkeepers weren’t aware of the law.
“People have been pretty gracious in coming into compliance,” Moreland says. “And two of our largest supermarkets turned on a dime.”
The Hannaford and Market 32 chains were using plastic last June 30 and paper July 1, joining the Brattleboro Food Co-op, which had switched years earlier.
“It has gone well,” Hannaford spokesman Eric Blom says. “Customers understand the environmental reasons behind it.”
Hannaford, with 17 Vermont locations including in Burlington and Middlebury, has experience with similar ordinances in Maine, Massachusetts and New York. The chain encourages Brattleboro shoppers to bring or buy reusable bags or pay 5 cents for each paper bag.
“We have found a plastic bag ban in communities with no fee on paper bags doesn’t have a major impact on reusable bag use,” Blom says. “When fees are instituted, there’s a substantial increase in reusable bag use.”
Paper bags can be just as environmentally problematic, adds Market 32 spokeswoman Mona Golub, because they require as much if not more energy to produce and distribute, can be expensive to recycle and don’t biodegrade easily in landfills.
Market 32, with a second location in Burlington and sister Price Chopper stores in a dozen Vermont communities including Manchester, has begun charging 5 to 10 cents for paper bags, depending if they have handles, and giving a 3-cent rebate for every reusable bag, box or tote shoppers bring.
“Most customers converted to paper bags, while fewer than 15 percent invested in long-term reusable alternatives,” Golub says. “Our follow-through is intended to drive results toward nondisposable solutions.”
Brattleboro’s ordinance allows some plastic, such as thin-film bags for newspapers, dry cleaning, produce, meat, poultry, fish, cheese, bulk foods, baked goods, bread and wet items.
That list soon may include art and related supplies after John Clements, owner of downtown’s Zephyr Designs, petitioned for a waiver to protect his merchandise from rain and snow.
“Art supplies like paper can get damaged by the elements,” Clements says. “There are unforeseen consequences to the ban. You’re not just talking about grocery bags.”
The Brattleboro Select Board is scheduled to approve the change at its March 5 meeting.
Voters in Burlington, for their part, will consider a ballot item Tuesday to “advise and encourage” its City Council to enact a plastic reduction policy that would ban single-use plastic bags, straws, stirrers and Styrofoam food containers.
Manchester residents who attend the annual town meeting Saturday will debate an advisory article urging local leaders to ban plastic bags.
And Middlebury voters will cast ballots on their own “advise and encourage” ballot item Tuesday.
Communities that approve the measure will join not only Brattleboro but also Montpelier, which is waiting for the Legislature to second its locally approved charter change, and Wilmington, whose ban is scheduled to start July 1.
