CCC Select Board Presentation Single Use Bag and Polystyrene - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

CCC Select Board Presentation Single Use Bag and Polystyrene Ordinances July 24, 2018

CCC Subcommittee Members ◼ Subcommittee Members – Stephanie Smith, Subcommittee Chair – Molly Mulhern, Polystyrene Food Container lead – Roger Rittmaster, CCC Chair – Tom Peaco, Pen Bay Chamber of Commerce – Marco D’Amato, CRHS student ◼ External Advisors – Sarah Lakeman, NRCM (National Resources Council of Maine)

Outline – Single Use Bag Ordinance ◼ Goals of Ordinance ◼ Summary of CCC research and outreach efforts ◼ Environmental Impacts – life cycle analyses and behavioral studies ◼ Summary of Maine single-use bag ordinances ◼ Feedback from Maine towns regarding effectiveness and unintended consequences of their ordinances ◼ Feedback from Camden retailers and residents ◼ The CCC’s proposed single -use bag ordinance

Goals of Single-Use Bag Ordinance ◼ Maximize use of reusable shopping bags or no bag at all ◼ Discourage use of single-use carry out bags

CCC Subcommittee Research and Outreach ◼ Met 7 times starting in October, 2017 ◼ Reviewed the literature on single use bags ◼ Consulted with NRCM several times ◼ Reviewed Maine town ordinances and interviewed key individuals from 9 towns, including Rockland ◼ Talked to merchants by walking door-to-door twice ◼ Held information meeting and wrote newspaper articles seeking comments ◼ Used Town Facebook page to elicit comments ◼ Used language from other Maine ordinances to develop wording of CCC’s proposed ordinance ◼ Presented to the SB on Feb 6, 2018 for initial feedback

Bag Types HDPE = High Density Polyethylene (standard single use plastic bag) PP = Polypropylene (standard re-usable bag)

Carrefore Study (Ecobilan; France, 2004) 55g ÷ 3.3 = 17g

Effect of Fees on Plastic and Paper Bag Usage Scotland Environmental Group Research Report - 2005 (52 g) Scenarios 0 No fee on plastic or paper 1A Fee on plastic only – all retail 1B Fee on plastic only – only large retail 2A Fee on plastic and paper – all retail 2B Fee on plastic and paper – only large retail

City of Seattle Report - 2008 (Herrera Environmental Consultants) Alternatives to Plastic Bags 4. ARF = fee on bags; assumes an ARF of 10-25 cents/bag

UK Environmental Agency Report 2010 Update (55g) Note: this UK analysis only involved grocery stores

Plastic Bag Laws - International Fees * Bans ◼ ◼ Italy Ireland ($.27 fee) ◼ ◼ Morocco UK ◼ ◼ Brazil Denmark ◼ ◼ Australia (many regions) Germany ◼ ◼ China Belgium ◼ S. Africa, Uganda, Somalia, * Paper bags are generally unavailable Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia in grocery stores in the UK and EU ◼ Bangledesh

Plastic Bag Ordinances - Maine Stores included 1 Date1/ Town Fee or Ban 4/2015 Portland .05 fee paper/plastic Food stores 9/2015 S. Portland .05 fee paper/plastic Food stores 11/2015 York Ban plastic All retail 4/2016 Topsham .05 fee paper/plastic All retail 4/2016 Falmouth .05 fee paper/plastic Food stores 9/2016 Freeport Ban plastic, .05 fee paper Food stores 10/2016 Kennebunk Ban plastic All retail 3/2017 Saco Ban plastic All businesses 9/2017 Brunswick Ban plastic All retail 12/2017 Cape Eliz. .05 fee paper/plastic Food stores 1/2018 Belfast Ban plastic All retail 4/2018 Bath Ban plastic, .05-.15 fee paper All retail 3/2018 Rockland Ban plastic All retail 7/2018 Manchester Ban plastic All retail TBD Blue Hill Ban plastic All retail 1 Produce, dry cleaner and pharmacy bags excluded

Towns actively considering new single-use bag ordinances Damariscotta, Mount Desert Island, Norway, Bethel, Waterville 13

Feedback From Camden Retailers ◼ Large majority of retailers were supportive of plastic bag ban/fee; many have stopped using plastic bags ◼ Concern if there is a record-keeping requirement ◼ Preference is to have ordinance that is consistent with Rockland’s ◼ Many small retailers were concerned about paper bag fee – Mostly use small bags – Hassle to administer – Insulting to customers who may be paying hundreds of dollars for contents of bag or buying small inexpensive items – Insulting to customers when paper bag is also being used as an advertisement ◼ Bob Josselyn (Hannaford) was concerned about a plastic bag fee/ban if it increased the use of paper bags.

Feedback from Public ◼ We received about 15 comments to our newspaper articles and Facebook posts. Many more from election day booth. ◼ All were supportive of addressing the problem of plastic bags. ◼ Selective comments: – A ban would be better than a fee. – What about banning plastic straws? – Why not give an incentive to shoppers for bringing their own bags rather than another tax?

Feedback from Bath (Lee Leiner, Public Works Director) ◼ Lead-up and implementation went smoothly. ◼ Press was very enthusiastic about presenting the bag ordinance to the public. ◼ The plastic bag ban was well-accepted. ◼ The 5-cent paper bag fee has been problematic. – Ordinance does not discriminate on size or function of the bag. – Many small local businesses feel they are cheapening their product or insulting their customer by charging for the bag.

Effectiveness of Falmouth’s Bag Ordinance (5 cent fee on paper and plastic) 8222 Falmouth HANNAFORD Plastic (units) Paper (units) Total Bags (units) Items Per Bag Year 1,856,000 52,000 1,908,000 5.7 2014 2015 1,368,000 36,800 1,404,800 5.94 2016 924,000 37,600 961,600 11.92 774,000 32,400 806,400 14.46 2017 ◼ Ordinance took effect April 1, 2016 ◼ Each year is April 1 – March 31 ◼ 32% reduction in plastic & no reduction in paper in 2016 (vs 2015) ◼ 43% reduction in plastic & 12% reduction in paper in 2017 (vs 2015)

CCC’s Conclusions for Single-use Bag Ordinance ◼ To maximize benefit, both plastic and paper bags need to be addressed. ◼ A ban on plastic bags is more effective than a fee. ◼ A ban on plastic bags will be well-accepted by both merchants and residents. ◼ If the SB decides to fee plastic bags, 5 cents is not enough based on Falmouth Hannaford’s results. ◼ The paper bag fee should only apply to retail establishments that sell food (excluding restaurants).

CCC’s Proposed Single -use Bag Ordinance Key Features ◼ Single-use plastic bags, except as noted below, are banned at all retail establishments. ◼ Customers may bring their own single use bags. ◼ Produce bags used within a store are not banned. ◼ There is a 10-cent fee on paper, compostable or biodegradable bags at food stores (excluding restaurants).