Committee: State Ban On Plastic Bags Will Do, No Local Law Needed

Waterford, CT—More than a year ago, acting on a measure introduced by the Green Party, the Waterford Representative Town Meeting asked its Public Health, Recreation, and Environment Committee to study and make a recommendation on a town-wide ban of plastic shopping bags.

The committee met four times in 14 months, and received “dozens of public comments” from residents who supported the ban, Waterford RTM members Joshua Steele Kelly and Baird Welch-Collins wrote in a press release sent to Patch.

They said the committee also heard from “number of experts from the regional recycling authority and from other municipalities where a ban has been enacted, all of whom gave general support for the act.”

But ultimately, a majority of members voted the item out of committee given the new state law that will place a $.10 tax on each plastic bag beginning August 1, 2019. The law phases-out all single-use plastic bags starting on July 1, 2021.

While the tax will bring revenue and reduce the number of bags used statewide, Kelly said the new state law “is not as comprehensive as the ordinance language that was proposed to Waterford’s Environment Committee.”

Kelly outlined the “economic and environmental impacts of a one-town plastic bag ban,” last August and is disappointed that the Committee didn’t take action on a ban that he says was popular with residents.

But was not popular with all. As was reported last March by The Day, some RTM members were opposed to a ban because of the cost to local business, our residents and taxpayers.

Still, Kelly and Welch-Collins are encouraged by state lawmakers’ lead.

“But the state ban is a huge win for the environment and my three fellow RTM members who ran on a platform to ban plastic bags, and we’re excited to take the next step in making Waterford more environmentally conscious and healthy,” Kelly said.

But Welch-Collins said the state action was driven by “the political courage of elected officials in municipalities that passed local bag ordinances, and I hope that Waterford can be a greater catalyst for such change going forward.”