{"id":15976,"date":"2022-11-23T15:43:24","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T20:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/?page_id=15976"},"modified":"2025-04-30T10:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:05:11","slug":"plastic-waste-reduction-team-mandatory-ban-subpage-draft","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/plastic-waste-reduction-team-mandatory-ban-subpage-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Bag Ban ByLaw in Needham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to the efforts of Green Needham’s Plastic Waste Reduction Team, the Plastic Bag Ban Citizens’ Petition Article included in the Warrant was passed overwhelmingly at Town Meeting on May 3, 2023!<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/h2>\n
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Green Needham’s Kathy Raiz and Rob Fernandez at Town Meeting supporting approval of the Plastic Bag Ban Citizens’ Petition Article<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Development of Bylaw to End the Use of Plastic Shopping Bags in Needham<\/h2>\n

Objective:\u00a0 \u00a0Create a citizens\u2019 petition that would end the use of plastic shopping bags in Needham. It would be included as an article in the May 2023 Town Meeting Warrant and voted on (and hopefully approved) by Town Meeting Members. The bylaw is being developed according to this schedule:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Timeframe<\/b><\/td>\nAction Item<\/b><\/td>\nStatus<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
September \u2013 October 2022<\/span><\/td>\nDraft the bylaw and look to incorporate language from plastic bag bans passed in other towns and cities similar or adjacent to Needham.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
October 2022 \u2013 January 2023<\/span><\/td>\nReview bylaw with relevant town officials and incorporate necessary feedback.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
January 2023<\/span><\/td>\nComplete draft of bylaw and obtain the 10 signatures needed to be included on the Town Meeting Warrant as a citizens’ petition.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Early February 2023<\/span><\/td>\nSubmit to the Select Board to be included as an article in the Town Meeting Warrant.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
February 2023<\/span><\/td>\nDiscuss the citizens\u2019 petition with the Select Board.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Early April 2023<\/span><\/td>\nMeet with Finance Committee.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April 12, 2023<\/span><\/td>\nPublic Hearing on bylaw article at Select Board meeting.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April 2023<\/span><\/td>\nInform and educate Town Meeting Members about the plastic bag bylaw article.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
May 2023<\/span><\/td>\nPlastic Bag Ban Citizens’ Petition Article included in the Warrant passed overwhelmingly at Town Meeting on May 3, 2023!\u00a0 The ban will go into effect January 1, 2024, for large stores, and July 1, 2024 for smaller stores.<\/span><\/td>\nCompleted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example of plastic bags contaminating the Commingled Recycling bin at the Needham RTS.\u00a0 Plastic bags create problems at the recycling facility, as they jam the machines and cause delays.\u00a0 The workers are forced to stop the machines to untangle the plastic bags from the equipment.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With overwhelming support at Town Meeting on May 3, 2023, Needham passed the Plastic Bag Ban Citizens’ Petition Article, and joined the over 150 towns and cities in Massachusetts that have passed similar plastic bag bans. The ban will go into effect January 1, 2024, for large stores, and July 1, 2024 for smaller stores. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":16276,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[342],"class_list":["post-15976","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plastic-waste-reduction","tag-plastic-waste-reduction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}