Wilton Uses 1.6 Million Plastic Bags a Year

If 1.6 million seems like a difficult number to fathom, perhaps this may put it in perspective: divided evenly, the average Wiltonian uses about 88 plastic bags a year.

That's a lot of plastic with not a lot of purpose and to try and curtail that usage, the Board of Selectmen in Wilton has been discussing an ordinance that would ban the one-time synthetic totes from town. According to selectman Ted Hoffstatter, who has been leading the initiative, Wilton uses 1.6 million of the bags every year and that number needs lowering.

"As someone who is a boater in town and a runner...[these bags] somehow end up in the trees, the woods, the waterways," Hoffstatter said. "The goal is [this ordinance] ends up helping the environment and doesn't cost the town anything."

The board discussed the ordinance in a lengthy meeting in February during which a number of Westporters (a town that has already successfully instituted a similar ban) made presentations on the subject. John Cunitz, who drove the ban there, had some advice for Wilton at that time.

"The biggest mistake I made the first time around was not to have fines in it," Cunitz said. "Maybe I was naive in thinking that our stores would comply without writing in some enforcement...the feedback we got was that it would be a feel-good thing, but we had to eventually add some teeth to it."

First Selectman Bill Brennan said last week that Wilton needs to decide precisely how sharp those teeth will be for the town, considering the potential impact on locals' habits. To that end, he asked Hoffstatter to begin setting up two formal meetings, one with retailers and one with the public, during which townspeople will be able to voice their concerns. Those meetings will likely take place at the beginning of September.

"I think we need to get input from our community," Brennan said. "Not just from retail customers, but the retail stores themselves because they have a big transition and cost element ahead of them [if the ordinance goes through]."