Tewksbury Keeps Plastic Bag Ban

TEWKSBURY, MA — With only about 250 residents on hand, Tewksbury Town Meeting effectively killed a motion to repeal a plastic bag ban that it passed last year and had gone into effect last month. The body voted to indefinitely postpone Article 28, which had been added to the warrant by resident petition, after about 40 minutes of debate.

The vote to indefinitely postpone the repeal article passed 217-36. Under open town meeting rules, a vote to indefinitely postpone a warrant article disposes of the measure without bringing it to a direct vote. Unlike a motion to table an article, which only postpones action temporarily, the indefinite postponement effectively kills the measure.

More than 100 Massachusetts communities have banned the single-use, plastic shopping bags that have been a staple of the grocery industry for a generation. Like other communities, Tewksbury's ban prohibits stores from giving out the bags, prompting stores to use paper bags while encouraging shoppers to bring resuabale shopping bags. The bans do not apply to plastic bags used for produce and other perishables.

Similar repeals of the plastic ban have failed in several other Massachusetts communities, including Winchester. Opponents of the bag ban said it is ineffective in fighting litter and puts a burden on older shoppers, who rely on the handles built into the plastic shopping bags.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).