Roughly one-third of the 75 local residents who converged on the Municipal Center public hearing on a plastic bag ban ordinance took the opportunity to speak on the subject, with only a handful weighing in against the proposal. Later in the evening, the Legislative Council’s action on the ordinance appeared to mirror the sentiment of those who spoke, as it was approved 8-4.

In the end, the four council members who sided against the ordinance as submitted echoed opponents’ concerns about government overreach in regard to a fee retailers would be forced to collect when they substitute paper bags for plastic. Those council opponents were Ordinance Committee Chair Ryan Knapp, Council Vice Chair Dan Wiedemann, Phil Carroll, and Jay Mattegat.

During the 90-minute hearing that preceded the council’s regular meeting, most of the residents who spoke in favor of the ordinance came to the microphone armed with statistics, or personal stories about how they easily adapted to toting groceries and other items in reusable bags versus the flimsy plastic versions that officials said clog waste handling systems and put trash plant workers at risk.

Others, including an official from the Beardsley Zoo, affirmed how deadly the proliferation of used bags is to wildlife, and a few quoted a study that predicted the world’s oceans would soon contain more plastic by weight than fish and other sea animals.

Most of the speakers who came to the meeting, as well as many others holding signs, touted the necessity to initiate a bag ban along with a companion surcharge for paper bags to ensure the greatest likelihood of success in getting Newtown shoppers to adopt reusable bags. Many spoke of the greater environmental harm that paper bags could inflict, while a couple of opponents referenced studies that downplayed the environmental impact of cloth and other reusable types of shopping bags.

Several others said they believed the added surcharge in the ordinance for paper bags was pro-business, because it provides funds to offset the more costly acquisition and storage of paper bags.

Once the hearing concluded, the council took up and eventually passed the local ban. But not before a clear delineation developed between those, including Mr Knapp, who were most uncomfortable with an element of the ordinance that would require all Newtown businesses to charge users 10 cents for any paper shopping bags that are provided to customers as an alternative to the banned plastic bags.

About half of the audience that came for the earlier hearing remained for the deliberation, and most let out a victorious cheer when the voice vote revealed the ordinance would pass. The ordinance will take effect in four months, as language provides time for local businesses to use or dispose of the existing stock of plastic bags.

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