Op-Ed: Vote 'No' On Article 8 At Stoneham Town Meeting

STONEHAM, MA — The following op-ed was submitted by Winchester Town Meeting member Tony Conte.

I urge that you oppose the trendy, "feel good" proposal to ban plastic bags that will have the opposite effect of its proponents’ claims. I am current proposing the following motion to repeal a similar plastic bag ban that was unwisely enacted by the Winchester Town Meeting:

EPA data shows that plastic bags make up only 0.5 percent of the U.S. municipal waste stream.

Plastic grocery bags require 70 percent less energy to produce than paper bags.

Plastic grocery bags consume less than 4 percent of the water needed to make paper bags.

Seven (7) times more truck loads are required to deliver an equal number of paper bags vs. plastic bags causing more burning of fossil fuels.

Paper bags take up nine (9) times as much space as paper bags in already scarce landfill space. Plastic bags produce fewer greenhouse gases per use than paper or cotton bags.

Plastic grocery bags are made in the USA from natural gas while most reusable bags are made in China & Vietnam and take far more energy to transport than plastic grocery bags made in the USA.

Stoneham's trash is incinerated and plastic bags are made of polyethylene which when burned produces only H2O and CO2.

Reusable bags made from heavier & thicker plastic & cotton requiring more energy to produce. Few people wash reusable grocery shopping bags which harbor pathogenic bacteria & disease bearing insects.

90 percent of the plastic found in the world's oceans comes from Asia and Africa, and only 1 percent of the plastic found in the world’s oceans comes from the USA.

Plastic grocery bags are often reused as trash bags and banning such bags forces residents to buy more plastic trash bags defeating the purpose of banning plastic grocery bags.

Banning plastic bags will raise the already high cost of doing business in Stoneham for our small business community.

See Also: Op-Ed: Vote 'Yes' On Article 8 At Stoneham Town Meeting