online at Globe West<\/b><\/a> or in your Sunday Globe on December 17th. If you go online, please leave a comment to vote<\/b> in the Globe’s poll.<\/p>\nEliminating retail single-use plastic bags in Needham<\/h4>\n
Single-use plastic shopping bags have several attributes that retailers find useful.\u00a0 They are inexpensive, easy to store, and convenient for carrying a variety of products.\u00a0 But the benefits have led to their overuse.\u00a0 According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, an estimated 1 trillion single-use plastic bags are used every year globally.\u00a0 Closer to home, Boston shoppers consume 357 million plastic bags annually. In Needham, just one national chain store goes through 6,000 plastic bags a week, based on a local survey.<\/p>\n
Perhaps there would be no debating their value if they were widely recycled.\u00a0 But they are not.\u00a0 Of the 1 trillion used every year, only 5% are recycled.\u00a0 Once discarded, plastic bags pollute the environment as they are not biodegradable.\u00a0 They can be found on city streets, in tree branches, and are washed into the ocean where they can be lethal for marine animals when mistaken for food.\u00a0 Plastic bags also represent a financial obligation for communities.\u00a0 Before voters in California passed the first state-wide ban in 2016, efforts to clean up single use plastic bags cost taxpayers an estimated $400 million per year.<\/p>\n
A solution to the waste created by plastic bags is to stop using them, a decision that fifty-nine cities and towns in Massachusetts, two US states and thirty countries have made.\u00a0 The fact that there are alternatives makes the decision easier.\u00a0 Reusable bags are effective and are becoming a more popular choice among shoppers due to their durability, and paper bags are recyclable.<\/p>\n
The benefits of eliminating the use of single-use plastic shopping bags are many.\u00a0 Pollution from litter is cut.\u00a0 As an example, volunteers in Monterey County, CA found only 43 plastic bags during a recent clean-up as compared to 2,494 in 2010, before the county and state-wide bans.\u00a0 Non-renewable fossil fuel consumption is reduced, as plastic bags are made from oil and gas.\u00a0 Additionally, plastic bags mistakenly placed with other recyclables can clog sorting machinery.\u00a0 That adds costs, exposes recycling workers to injuries, and possibly causing an entire load of recyclables to be landfilled or burned.<\/p>\n
Therefore, in collaboration and support of local businesses, we strongly support ending the use of single-use plastic bags in Needham.\u00a0 As Matt O\u2019Malley, Boston City Councilor, recently said, \u201cPlastic bags are only used for an average of 12 minutes, but their impact on the city’s streets and drains is permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNote: Minor edits to this submitted text may have been made during the Globe’s editorial process.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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