{"id":17804,"date":"2023-11-23T20:00:41","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T01:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/?p=17804"},"modified":"2023-11-22T10:58:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T15:58:34","slug":"needham-businesses-offer-perspective-voice-impact-of-future-plastic-bag-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/2023\/11\/needham-businesses-offer-perspective-voice-impact-of-future-plastic-bag-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Needham businesses offer perspective, voice impact of future plastic bag ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When Volante Farms switched from plastic bags to paper bags at their grocery checkout, it was a \u201clittle bit of a learning curve\u201d for customers and staff alike, owner Steve Volante said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t overfill them. The handles all rip, so you have to double bag them and tell everybody to pick them up by the bottom,\u201d he said of the paper bags. \u201cThe first couple years, there was stuff breaking all over the place, and everybody has gotten used to it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family-owned farm still uses plastic bags at its deli, but with the upcoming town-wide plastic bag ban taking effect next year, that will soon change.<\/p>\n

At the annual Town Meeting in May, Needham passed<\/a> a permanent ban on single-use plastic bags at retailers, meaning stores will need to provide recyclable paper bags or reusable checkout bags. The bylaw takes effect Jan. 1 for businesses 3,500 square feet or larger, which includes Volante Farms, Roche Bros. and CVS. For all other businesses, the ban begins July 1.<\/p>\n

Under the ban, no plastic bags can be offered at checkout specifically, but produce bags and plastic bags at the meat counter and deli will still be available.<\/p>\n

Volante said it\u2019s \u201ca mixed bag\u201d \u2014 no pun intended. Paper bags are heavier, more expensive and take up much more storage space than plastic bags, and on a global scale, trucks transporting those paper bags are producing more carbon emissions due to the added weight, Volante said.<\/p>\n

The best solution is for customers to bring in their own reusable bags, he said, but people often forget them at home. Volante Farms also sells a heavier duty canvas tote bag as an alternative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI equate it to the water bottle thing. You can get the boxed water\u2026 or you can get a bottle of water, but better than both of those is bringing your refillable water bottle,\u201d Volante said. \u201cI think everybody gets that, and that\u2019s what we try to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Select Board passed<\/a> a voluntary single-use plastic bag ban for larger retailers in 2018, after advocacy from Green Needham, a volunteer-based organization that strives to institute more sustainable town practices. But adherence to that rule was \u201cvery spotty,\u201d said Rob Fernandez, co-chair of the Green Needham\u2019s Plastic Waste Reduction Team.<\/p>\n

In the years since, Fernandez said they\u2019ve seen chain stores introduce thicker plastic shopping bags, which he sees as a worse option. They use more plastic, and though they are marketed as reusable bags, most people do not bring them back to the store, thereby creating additional waste, team co-chair Kathy Raiz said.<\/p>\n

The new bylaw addresses both the thin and those thick plastic bags.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be fully cynical here, but it feels like, in a way, you saw stores start to use the thick plastic bags because they got around the thin ban,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n

Prior to bringing the plastic bag ban to Town Meeting as a citizen petition, Raiz and Fernandez sent out a survey in February through the town to 75 local business owners, 19 of whom responded. Of those 19, three reported exclusively using plastic bags, signaling that a permanent ban would likely have a minimal impact. A prior survey in 2018 found smaller stores were previously using more plastic bags, Fernandez said, but that seems to have since changed.<\/p>\n

At least 159 communities across the state control<\/a> the use of plastic shopping bags, according to the Massachusetts Sierra Club. Needham stood out as \u201can island\u201d surrounded by communities that have already instituted some form of a plastic bag ban, Raiz said.<\/p>\n

Raiz acknowledged the negative effect paper bags have on the environment and encouraged the use of reusable bags.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s less about the inconvenience of getting rid of the plastic bags and understanding the horrible impact that single-use plastics have on our environment,\u201d Raiz said of the ban, \u201cand breaking down into microplastics and getting into our water and our air and even just the way that they\u2019re manufactured.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plastic bag ban won\u2019t change much at French Press Bakery & Cafe, which has never used plastic bags, founder and owner Jay Spencer wrote in an email. As head of the Newton-Needham Dining Collaborative, Spencer wrote that most members support the ban.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the collaborative, the biggest challenge for restaurants involve saucy items for example Chinese takeout dishes or deli plastic,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHowever these items are exempt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Reibman, president and CEO of the Charles River Regional Chamber, said he anticipates the transition in January to be \u201cpretty seamless.\u201d Residents and business owners understand the need for the ban, he said, and it will help people use their own bags more frequently.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public is ready for this, and retailers understand this,\u201d Reibman said. \u201cThere may be the odd case where some retailer isn\u2019t aware of it and will need to be reminded, but I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll quickly correct whatever they need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needham\u2019s Cappella Restaurant also has never used plastic bags, chef and owner Robert Picardi said. Though they ordered plastic bags during the pandemic \u2014 when paper bags were harder to come by \u2014 Picardi said they still didn\u2019t use them. That shipment is now sitting, unused, in his basement.<\/p>\n

When diners walk out of the restaurant, leftovers look better in paper bags, Picardi said, and \u201cthe less plastic we have, the better.\u201d He said he thinks the upcoming plastic bag ban is a step in the right direction but worries about a potential slippery slope.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Newton, they\u2019ve already (banned<\/a>) plastic to-go containers, so I don\u2019t want to go that far,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be an issue for my business.\u201d<\/p>\n

A state-wide action on plastic bag use may soon be on the horizon, but until then, Green Needham intends to find other ways to clean up the town, which may include supporting a proposed bill that would restrict restaurants from automatically adding plastic utensils, sauce containers and other items to take-out bags.<\/p>\n

This article is shared courtesy of Needham Local<\/a>, where it was first published on October 26, 2023.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\nCameron Morsberger is the Community Reporter and Digital Editor for Needham Local, a news service of The Needham Channel<\/a>. To subscribe, please visit their website at www.needhamlocal.org<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Volante Farms switched from plastic bags to paper bags at their grocery checkout, it was a \u201clittle bit of a learning curve\u201d for customers and staff alike, owner Steve Volante said. \u201cYou don\u2019t overfill them. The handles all rip,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","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":[336,291],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-17804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plastic-waste-reduction","category-toward-zero-waste","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}