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Posted on 05/18/2016 12:38:03 PM PDT by pabianice
Shrewsbury, MA – In an event that took many people by surprise, voters at the May 16 Annual Town Meeting (ATM) voted to ban the use of plastic shopping bags in town.
The article, which has been submitted by citizen petition, had previously been rejected by both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee (FINCOM).
Missy Hollenback, representing Shrewsbury Recycling, first gave a detailed presentation, accompanied by color slides. She asserted that plastic shopping bags were a major recycling problem and that their long degradation life and habit of flying everywhere, even into tree tops, was a major problem. The Finance Committee then again recommended it be defeated as its effects upon and costs to town businesses was unknown, as was its efficacy.
The 90-minute presentation and following debate was dominated by voters who spoke against the article. Most of those opposed said that this article had been inserted into the warrant without enough notification, without support from either the Board of Selectmen or the Finance Committee, and with neither advice from nor notification to local merchants. Others said they preferred cloth or paper bags, but banning plastic bags in Shrewsbury would be futile since surrounding towns had not done so. Others said that without merchants being on board for this proposal, they would incur considerable expense and trouble in obeying the mandate.
Those few who publicly supported the article reasserted that this was being done, in large part, for the children, who were represented as being 100 percent onboard through teaching at the town schools and who would suffer in the future if the town did not now implement the ban. Others noted that Framingham and Natick were implementing such a ban. Another voter said that she had had a plastic bag stuck in the top of a tree in her yard for over a year and had no way to get it down. Still other voters chided the assembly for not being willing to bring their own reusable bags when shopping. Another controversy erupted between voters who claimed that reusable bags bred food poisoning while others said not so.
Still another voter questioned the operational execution of such a ban to which Town Manager Daniel Morgado replied that this would be something he, as “solid waste manager for the town,” would have to create and manage, especially since the Board of Health was not yet involved. Still another voted that he was concerned with the town’s banning anything, setting a precedent for more “big government.” Still another protested that banning plastic bags was not something merchants would have to honor.
After the long discussion, the question was moved and passed by the required 2/3 vote. The article itself was then voted upon and passes handily.
“Say goodbye to my business.”
Are you a plastic bag manufacturer?
.
“If you are feeling overcharged by your grocery store, demand paper bags! It cost them much more!”
Possibly the stupidest comment I’ve ever seen on FR.
It does in at least one way. Trash-hauling companies have giant machines that separate recyclables into different categories. One of their big problems is that plastic bags get tangled up in these machines.
Its pretty amazing some days to see how many plastic bags are stuck to the corn stalk stubble in the fields nearby.
I'm far from a tree hugger, but if you want to live in a clean town, you can't throw that stuff everywhere.
Kuwait and Iraq were my eye opener ! Plastic water bottles and trash everywhere.
Course that is the least of their worries.
There’s a new material for making grocery bags. It’s biodegradable, easy to use, and it’s simple to assure a constantly rejuvenating supply that’ll go on forever. It’s called... paper.
Burly men involved, though.
Nope. I’ve read your post.
I don’t doubt that at all. I’m sure it is a big pain in the butt as they have to get someone to pull these things out of the teeth of the machines.
Burly men involved, though.”
Not just burly men but real people who do an honest day’s work to make an honest living instead of living on government funded programs and never work.
Libs never think through any of their demands. Why not go back to deposit required, returnable glass bottles which can be washed and refilled, real cloth diapers-yes, they have to be washed, furniture out of real wood which can be refinished or repainted but lasts for generations?
or you can bring your own bag and use it. It’s not a terrible thing.
So I am going spend the day walking around town and may or may not pay something and I have to carry stupid bags around. F..that. www.amazon.com
No kidding....They did this all over California and it hasn’t changed anything except the bag industry
I think he means it’s stupid because if the store has to pay more for ANYTHING, the buying public will always wind up paying the difference. Any attempt to make corporations pay more taxes, or factories pay extra for stuff they use to make their product, or stores being forced to use more expensive packaging, is passed to the consumer.
It’s based on a scientific theory called “Economics”.
Perhaps you haven’t heard of it yet, but I recommend you check it out. Google it.
Didn’t come across that way but no problem!
I read the thing you call economics. Googled it. Interesting read! Thank you. (That’s called sarcasm. As was my post about screwing the grocery store by demanding paper)
Google the word “Sarcasm”. It is also an interesting read.
Walmart shopping bags are the state bird here in Nevada.
Yet another in an endless line of Massachusetts busybodies with nothing of importance on which to spend her time.
In no way is this directed at you personally:
Plastic Bag Ban Responsible For Spike In E. Coli Infections, Study Says
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/plastic-bag-ban_n_2641430.html
Just saying.......
Waiting for the next big thing, Transgender Plastic Bags who work for Minimum Wage and don’t get paid Overtime and want free Birth Control.
The problem lies very heavily on idiots who just throw their trash everywhere.
Cough, *third world immigrants*, cough.
I'm going to state, as a conservative, I would NEVER just throw plastic bags out on the street.
I'll go one further and say 99% of conservatives don't either.
Some *cough* "cultures" just don't care.
These "cultures" DO vote for democrats, though.
I thought our town was bad with our proposed gun laws. Jeez.
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