Ban On Single Use Plastics In The Works In Doylestown Township

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — A ban on single use plastic bags is in the works in Doylestown Township.

At its January meeting, the supervisors heard an update on the issue from its Environmental Advisory Council and agreed to send a letter to township restaurants providing them with suggestions for ways to voluntarily reduce single use plastics while making them aware that
other neighboring communities are in the process of banning plastic bags.

At the same time, the township will begin the process of drafting an ordinance to officially ban single use plastic bags at restaurants and retail establishments in the township.

As part of the process, the township will be reviewing Doylestown Borough’s recently enacted plastics ordinance “with the idea that we would consider implementing a very similar ordinance in the township, both because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it simplifies the transactions between the two jurisdictions. If they are banned in the borough and not in the township it becomes very confusing,” reported EAC Chairman Dr. James Baldassarr.

A ban would only impact the plastic bags customers receive at the checkout line for their purchases, typically at retail and restaurant establishments. Customers would still have the option of a paper bag or a reusable bag.

One of the supervisors asked how it would impact on the township’s mom and pop businesses who will be impacted the most by the change.

While there would be a period of adjustment for the smaller mom and pop businesses, Baldassarre said with more and more communities banning single use plastic the availability of alternatives is getting greater and greater.

“What are the small businesses doing in Philadelphia? They are adapting,” he said. “I suspect many are now using paper bags.”

Since the township passed a voluntary ban a year ago, the EAC has been actively engaging the community behind the scenes on the issue through surveys and door-to-door visitations.

“The idea has been percolating for a long time. It began before the pandemic and it has recently gotten renewed traction,” said Baldassarre.

The EAC began investigating the idea in 2018-19 when it conducted a community survey. It subsequently developed an educational packet for the board of supervisors.

And in January 2022 the board of supervisors approved a resolution calling for the voluntary reduction of single use plastic throughout the township.

Since then, the EAC has developed an action plan for rolling out a ban.

This past summer, the EAC conducted a door-to-door survey of businesses in the township to make sure they were fully represented. They have also been actively participating in a regional plastic coalition and seeing what other communities are doing. And they have engaged in the community with events on Facebook and will continue to do so.

And most recently the EAC created and sent out an engagement letter to restaurants in the township to encourage them to engage in best practices for reducing single use plastic and to let them know how the issue is evolving.

In a survey taken of the community, 80 percent of the 237 respondents said they were supportive of a reduction in single use plastic while 70 percent said they were supportive of a ban on single use plastic bags.

“This was just a snapshot of the community in general. But in general the response was positive,” said Baldassarre.

A group of EAC members also went door to door to businesses around the township. “And we were able to get responses from 15 businesses,” said Baldassarre.

“We asked them how important it would be to be able to continue using single use plastic bags and not surprisingly, nine out of 15 said it was important or somewhat important to continue using single use plastic. In many cases it was the first time hearing about it,” said Baldassarre.

“We then gave them a list of options - what programs or policies they support to reduce litter and waste from single use bags. Seven out of 15 suggested a greater access to reusable bags. Five out of 15 would accept charging a fee for plastic bags. And three said they would accept a ban on single use plastic bags,” said Baldassarre.

“But them when we asked if they would accept an ordinance, only three said they would mildly oppose a ban. Three out of 15 said they would be unhappy with a ban on single use plastic bags,” he said.

He added that the big chain stores don’t have a problem with a single use ban on plastic bags whatsoever. They know how to do this. It will be the smaller stores that will have to adapt,” he said.

Baldassarre added that most said they would support a charge for paper bags, which was a sticking point in Doylestown Borough when it implemented its ordinance.

Doylestown Borough is going down the road of a single use plastic bag ban. They had a public meeting in September. It was well attended. And there were a number of objections to a variety of things, but the main one was not wanting to charge for the paper bags because in many cases they were already giving out the bags for free and they didn’t want to start charging for it:”

In response to the feedback, they dropped that from its ordinance.

The borough approved the ban in December setting the stage for it to officially take affect in June.