Letter to Editor re Article 21 - Plastic Bag Ban on Town Warrant

Dear Editor,

The word is spreading about the “plastic bag ban” Town Warrant Article which will be on the April 29th Town Meeting Warrant, and we are happy to share information about this with the voters of Medfield.

On behalf of the Medfield Plastic Reduction Initiative (MPRI) we would like all Medfield residents to understand this Article and what it will mean to everyone in town.

If this “Plastic bag ban at point of sale” Article passes, it would become a Town bylaw and would ban the distribution of single-use plastic bags at point of sale in the Town of Medfield. The ban would go into effect on November 1, 2019.

To date, 93 of the 350 Massachusetts cities and towns have adopted similar bans including Boston, Cambridge, Newton, Framingham and Natick. Approximately ten other towns are bringing this issue to a vote this Spring.

Some facts:

• In the US, we use 100,000,000,000 plastic bags every year,
• In Medfield, we use 4,200,000 plastic bags every year,
• These bags are made from non-renewable sources (oil and natural gas),
• Plastic bags are used for 12 minutes (on average),
• Plastic bags do NOT biodegrade. They break down into tiny micro-plastics, which are now entering our food chain.

Our Initiative is proposing that we ban plastic bags at checkout and start to rethink how we carry and dispose of items. This ban will NOT include newspaper, dry cleaner or produce bags (for meat and veggies).

Some Medfield residents do recycle plastic bags by bringing them to Shaw’s market, who then sells them to companies like Trex to make plastic wood. This is a great program and we urge you to continue to bring any plastic bags you acquire to recycle at Shaw’s or to the Transfer Station, but it only represents about 15% of our plastic bag use.

Merchants in Medfield have all been informed about this potential change and they have given us a very positive response, some commenting that they are ready to switch if they haven’t already! We have heard no opposition.

If this bylaw passes, we can help the local merchants by bringing our own reusable bags when we shop, or we can choose to not have a bag at all.

We welcome your questions and comments and hope to see you at Town Meeting on April 29th to vote YES on the article to ban single-use plastic bags at point of sale. To Learn More, check our website!

Sincerely,

Andrea Costello and Megan Sullivan, Co-Chairs

Medfield Plastic Reduction Initiative

acostello84@comcast.net