This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
07/30/2019 02:50 PMThe new state legislation levying a 10 cent fee on single-use plastic bags is a step toward reducing the bags’ use, but Bring Your Own Bag Madison (BYO Madison) is hoping to take another step toward eliminating the bags from the local landscape.
BYO Madison is a group of Madison residents dedicated to raising awareness about the toxic effects of single-use plastic on human health, community environments, waterways, and the economy. With the ultimate goal of completely doing away with plastic bags all together, the group is lobbying for Madison to join others in the state and create an ordinance that would totally ban single-use plastic bags.
“What some people don’t understand is that the state ban means that plastic bags are still going to be available until July 1, 2021 when they are banned completely. The difference is that there will be a 10 cent tax imposed on their use until then. Revenue from this tax will go into the state General Fund,” said BYO Madison Chair Fran Brady.
“What BYO wants to do is speed up the process and keep money in our town in the interim,” he said.
The BYO Madison proposal is to pass an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags outright; instead merchants could offer paper bags with a 10 cent charge that the vendor would keep. The intended effect would be to encourage use of reusable bags and keep any added bag fees in the community rather than sending it to the state.
This type of ordinance, banning plastic checkout bags and placing a 10-cent fee on paper ones, is called a hybrid model, Brady explained.
Ten towns in Connecticut have already adopted this hybrid model, Brady said, while 19 statewide have a plastic bag ban in place, including Guilford and Branford. The new Connecticut law states that any town ordinance supersedes the state’s plastic bag ban as long as the town’s regulation is more stringent.
BYO Madison has collected more than 450 petition signatures in support of a plastic bag ban from Madison residents as well as 22 local businesses and five faith-based communities.
According to BYO Madison, neither plastic nor paper bags are preferred, as both have negative environmental impacts, but with a fee on the least-damaging alternative, which is paper, consumers will be incentivized to bring their own reusable bags, which is the ultimate goal.
In an effort to gather more information about how businesses in town feel about this movement, Brady created a 10-question survey on the Survey Monkey web platform that was sent out by the Madison Chamber of Commerce to more than 1,000 business emails. At press time, Brady reported that fewer than 50 businesses had responded to the survey.
“I fear that there will not be enough responses for the survey to be statistically valid, but we are hoping that more businesses respond soon,” said Brady.
Currently a review of the draft ordinance is underway by the selectmen and town attorney. A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m., at the First Congregational Church’s Hubley Hall in Madison. Experts and community members will be on hand to provide information on the subject during an open discussion among the community.
BYO Madison hopes that the ordinance will be ready for a vote by the Board of Selectmen sometime in September.
For more information about the proposed ordinance, visit the BYO Madison website BYOMadison.org or BYO Madison on Facebook.