Newtown Township To Unveil Single-Use Plastics Ordinance

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA - Newtown Township will unveil a draft ordinance on Monday, April 3 that would regulate the use of single use plastics in the township.

The township’s Environmental Advisory Council has invited township business owners and residents to attend the special meeting beginning at 7 p.m. to introduce the ordinance.

During the meeting, the EAC will be looking for feedback from the business community and from residents in determining the scope of the ordinance.

“We are inviting all businesses in the township to educate owners and managers about single use
plastics,” said Supervisor Elen Snyder. “There will be a question and answer session where members of the EAC will field questions.”

Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are typically plastic items that are used one time before they are thrown away. They include things like plastic grocery-type bags, plastic straws, stirrers, utensils, and plates; and polystyrene (styrofoam) cups.

Under consideration at the meeting will be a ban on plastic bags of any thickness, plastic cups, plastic straws, Styrofoam, plastic utensils, compliant paper bags or boxes, fees for paper bags, exemptions, and a vendor list for alternative, non-plastic products.

“We hope to get all on board with this,” said Snyder.

Fran Savitz, from Penn Environment, will also be attending the meeting to discuss the impact single use plastics is having on the environment.

A study conducted by PennEnvironment found that waterways in Bucks County and across the state are contaminated with microplastics from discarded plastic bags and litter tossed in the street and washed away by storm drains into local rivers and streams.

“Nothing we use for a short period of time should pollute our environment for centuries with toxic chemicals, contaminating us, our land and marine life,” said Snyder.

Last April, the board of supervisors unanimously passed a resolution encouraging a voluntary reduction of single-use plastics throughout the township. If an ordinance is adopted, compliance would become mandatory.

The township, said Snyder, is now following the lead of 15 municipalities in Pennsylvania, including Solebury Township and Doylestown Borough, which have passed a ban on single use plastic bags.

According to Snyder, for the past two years the EAC has conducted extensive research on single use plastics and alternatives in an effort “to take the temperature of the township” on the issue.

Ordinances have been passed in cities and towns across the nation, said Snyder, “and we hope to follow in their footsteps.”

“Many do not realized the connection between the tremendous amount of plastics we use every day and the detrimental environmental impact it causes,” Elaine McCarron, the co-chair of the EAC told the supervisors in 2022 as she advocated for the resolution.

“They have no idea that those plastic bags and throwaway plastics take 400 to 1,000 years to break down. They go into our landfills. They go into our waterways. They leach into our oceans. They leave toxic residues for many generations to come.

“It is in our best interest, I hope, to protect our environment, the air we breathe, the food we eat, our marine life and pass a resolution to reduce single-use plastic,” she said.