By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
PROVIDENCE — The bag ban is back, with some new supporters. Last
year’s sponsor of the House bill, former Rep. Maria Cimini, D-Providence, lost
re-election in the Democratic primary. This year, East Providence Democrat
Gregg Amore will sponsor the Plastic Waste Reduction Act.
For the past two years, the statewide ban on plastic shopping bags
was led by the advocacy group Environment Rhode Island.
This year, the
environmental group Eco Youth United will join the campaign.
The bill hasn’t made it out of committee the past two years.
Several bag ban bills in Massachusetts also died in committee last year. Since
these legislative efforts failed, several bans have passed in the region. Most
recently, Newton became the ninth community in Massachusetts to enact a ban.
Last September, California became the first state to sign a
statewide ban into law. Hawaii technically became the first state to institute
a ban, in 2013, but did so county by county. Barrington is the first and only
community in Rhode Island with a ban.
The California ban shows the uphill battle statewide bans face.
Since the California Legislature approved the ban, plastic-bag manufactures and
distributers have collected enough signatures to overturn the ban through a
statewide veto referendum in 2016.
The American Progressive Bag Alliance (APBA), a lobbyist group associated
with chemical companies and bag manufacturers, has already raised a few million
dollars for the campaign. In Rhode Island, the opposition has included the
ABPA, the Rhode Island Retail Federation, Rhode Island Resource Recovery
Corporation (RIRRC) and the bag distributor Packaging & More based in Central
Falls.
Opponents say the ban is a financial burden on retailers and
limits consumer choice. In 2013, RIRRC argued that the ban undermines a
successful statewide bag-recycling program that uses bins at many stores.
However, RIRRC supported the ban last year after language was removed for a
10-cent fee per bag.
Supporters of a Rhode Island ban have included the Environment
Council of Rhode Island, Progressive Democrats of Rhode Island, the Rhode
Island Chapter of the Sierra Club, Clean Ocean Access, Clean Water Action,
Audubon Society of Rhode Island and Save The Bay. Support has also come from
oyster farmers.
The common themes among bag-ban supporters are that most plastic
bags don’t get recycled. According to the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), 12 percent of plastic bags and plastic wrap are recycled.
They are one
of the top sources of pollution across the state and most significantly
Narragansett Bay. A major concern is that plastic bags simply shred and break
into tiny pieces and never fully decompose. As tiny fragments spread, they
become part of the food chain.
According to the House bill, “Single-use plastic checkout bags are
a primary source of this pollution, littering Rhode Island’s neighborhoods,
parks, and roadsides, as well as aquatic and coastal environments, posing a
direct threat to wildlife and accumulating in waterways. A ban on these plastic
bags is the most effective way to eliminate this source of pollution.”
The proposed ban applies to checkout bags, and exempts bags for
produce and meat, dry cleaning, frozen food, flowers, newspapers and those
larger than 28 by 36 inches. The ban applies to retail stores, farmers markets,
flea markets and restaurants.
The ban would be phased in. Large retailers would need to comply
by Jan. 1, 2016, and small retailers by Jan. 1, 2017. Local police would enforce
the bans. Penalties would range from a warning for a first offense to a $300
fine for a third offense.
The bill was referred to the House Committee on the Environment
and Natural Resources. A hearing hasn’t been scheduled.