Supervisors Vote To Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags In Doylestown Township

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA —Doylestown Township has joined a growing list of municipalities in Pennsylvania banning single-use plastic bags.

In a 4 to 1 vote at its May meeting, the board of supervisors adopted an ordinance that will ban the distribution of single-use carry-out plastic bags at restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, and other retailers in the township.

The township joins its neighbor, Doylestown Borough, which passed a similar ban in 2022. Since then, Newtown Borough and Newtown Township have also passed bans in their communities.

Customers won't see a change right away. The new law doesn't take effect until Nov. 17 to give businesses time to prepare for the change and to educate their customers.

Effective 180 days from the passage of the ordinance, businesses in the township will no longer be allowed to provide single-use plastic bags to their customers for their purchases. Instead, customers will either need to bring their own reusable bags, buy a reusable bag from the business, purchase a paper bag for five cents, or carry their purchases out of the store in their hands.

After some discussion, the supervisors agreed to reduce the fee for the purchase of a paper bag from 15 cents down to five cents.

Jim Baldassarr, who chairs the township's Environmental Advisory Council, prefaced the vote by explaining why the EAC recommended moving forward with the ordinance.

"We use billions and billions and billions of plastic bags, forks, knives, and cups every year," he told the supervisors. "These get used for a few moments and then end up in our landfills and our environment where they remain forever because they do not biodegrade. They may break down into tiny particles, which you can't see but you can ingest, but they never actually leave the environment.

"They pollute our parks, our waterways and the oceans in particular," he continued. "They harm and kill all kinds of wildlife - fish, seabirds, turtles - and they have a significant impact on human health as well. We generate microplastics, which are toxic. These are tiny particles that we inhale and ingest. Our bodies are loaded with microplastics. We can find them in our livers," he said.

During public comment, a woman who identified herself as a small business owner in the township, urged the supervisors to consider the impact the bag ban would have on the township's small business owners.

Last year, the supervisors voted to implement a voluntary ban in the township and to begin the process of drafting an ordinance to officially ban single-use plastic bags.

Throughout the process, the EAC and the township consulted with PennEnvironment, a Philadelphia-based environmental advocacy group, which has been working with Pennsylvania municipalities to implement single-use plastic bans.

With its vote this month, Doylestown Township becomes the 30th municipality in Pennsylvania to pass legislation at the local level, according to PennEnvironment’s Zero Waste Advocate Faran Savitz.

Savitz said recent studies have shown laws like the one passed by Doylestown Township are "incredibly effective at protecting the environment and public health.

"PennEnvironment estimates that Doylestown residents use over 6.5 million single-use plastic bags annually, equivalent to over 72,000 pounds of plastic waste," said Savitz. "This ordinance is a strong first step on the path to curbing plastic waste in the township and in Bucks County.

“Plastic bags are the poster child for the environmental harm caused by single-use plastics," he said. "Nothing we use for a few minutes, such as single-use plastic bags, should be allowed to litter our communities, pollute our environment, and fill our landfills and incinerators for hundreds of years to come. This sends a strong message that Doylestown is a leader in the effort to tackle litter and single-use plastic pollution."