Ban the bag, New Canaan!
The CT Chapter worked with local residents in New Canaan, CT, to get a strong local ordinance passed to mitigate single-use bags.
On February 27, 2019, the New Canaan Town Council passed a bag ban on a 9-2 vote!
The law goes into effect in August 2019, and will require stores with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space to charge 10-cents per paper bag. Unfortunately, the local ordinance falls short by allowing plastic film bags that are 6 mils thick to be considered reusable and distributed for free, which studies show will lead consumers opting for the free 6 mil plastic bags wherever they are available, rather than bringing their own bags or buying the paper bags for 10-cents each. Additionally, the propagation of 6 mil plastic film bags detracts from our global goal of source reduction, that is, making less or no low grade plastics that are currently manufactured for single-use items. Making thicker plastic film bags to meet the 6 mil specification means more low grade plastics produced, and not less.
The ban is to be enforced by the local director of health.
We are hopeful that the statewide bag ban campaign currently underway will course-correct by creating a strong bag law that will properly incentivize reusable bags by charging a fee for paper bags and disallowing plastic film bags of any thickness specification from being considered “reusable” and/or given out for free.