Plastic Straws Will Be Request-Only As Melrose Ordinance Passes

MELROSE, MA — Plastic straws aren't quite going the way of plastic bags in Melrose, but it's close. The Board of Aldermen Tuesday night passed an ordinance that will go a long way in reducing plastic straws in Melrose, voting to force restaurants and coffee shops not to offer them as a default option. The board stopped short of an overall ban of single-use sippers and stirrers.

If you think the straw ordinance sucks, you can still request one at any establishment. But there is no guarantee the establishment will even have plastic ones in stock. Turner's, for instance, has done away with them.

The ordinance will go into effect Dec. 1. An establishment's violation of the ordinance would result in a warning the first time, a $25 fine the second time, and $50 for third and subsequent offenses.

Alderman Frank Wright got seven of his colleagues to vote alongside him — the minimum he needed. Aldermen Scott Forbes, Shawn MacMaster and Monica Medeiros opposed it.

Wright, who first introduced the order in early June, opted not to have the ordinance voted on two weeks ago after it was discussed at length in committee. Alderman John Tramontozzi missed that meeting, and his vote Tuesday night was one of the eight Wright needed.

The ordinance comes two years after the city became the 61st in Massachusetts to ban disposable plastic bags.

Discussion among the Board was brief Tuesday night, with most having spoken on it two weeks ago. Wright reminded people it's not a ban, while Forbes, still smarting over those weak paper bags at Shaw's, said consumers should have the choice without feeling judged by requesting a plastic straw if they want one.

Medeiros said many businesses she spoke with had not been contacted about the ban, while others were already taking steps to reduce the use of plastic straws. She has offered alternatives that stop short of an ordinance to make the city less reliant of single-use plastic, such as adding water-filling stations in high-traffic areas.

MacMaster thought more public education on the issue was needed in order to make real change.

Advocates acknowledged it's a small step, but said at least it's in the right direction.

"The pyramids were built one stone at a time," Jeana McNeil of Zero Waste Melrose, formerly the Recycling Committee, said after it passed. "I think little changes help people lean into the bigger changes that we know are needed."