“Just a warning this time.” Beads of sweat on your face are reflected in the officer”™s mirror sunglasses. “Next time it”™ll cost you $150.”
You have not been caught speeding. The crime: Dispensing plastic bags in the village of Larchmont, N.Y., after Oct. 1: “Bag ”™em, Danno.”
The Sound Shore community last month joined the growing ranks of municipalities that have moved to ban disposable plastic bags.
Four years ago, Westport became the first town in Connecticut to enact a plastic bag ban, and despite some initial lobbying against the proposal, First Selectman Gordon Joseloff said the change has proved successful.
“I think it”™s been very successful ”“ I haven”™t heard any squawks from residents or store owners,” Joseloff said. “It”™s almost like wearing a seatbelt now. I think it”™s pretty normal for Westporters that when they go shopping, there aren”™t plastic bags.”
In his February budget presentation, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called for the state to devote nearly $1 billion in loans and grants over the next two years toward reducing pollution in Connecticut”™s waterways and the Long Island Sound and cleaning up city sewage systems.
Joseloff said it”™s difficult to determine the environmental impact of Westport”™s plastic bag ban, but added, “Every little step helps.”
“It”™s hard to measure the impact of one town adopting the measure but ”¦ I don”™t see plastic bags blowing on beaches or elsewhere, so that”™s a good sign,” he said. “It”™s a small step ”¦ if Larchmont enacts it (the ban), people will see that it”™s no big deal.”
Larchmont has now signed onto a concerted, growing effort to rid the region of disposable plastic bags.
An arc of communities around the Sound ”“ including Mamaroneck, N.Y., where a plastic bag ban kicked in April 1, Rye, N.Y., and Westport ”“ has already embraced a plastic bag-less shopping environment.
Other New York towns and villages, including Tuckahoe, Pelham and North Castle are also exploring bans, according to the Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE), a 28-year-old advocacy group with six regional offices, including in White Plains, N.Y., and Hamden, and which boasts 80,000 members.
“Plastic bag bans have proven successful in every municipality where it has been enacted, by decreasing plastic litter and increasing the use of reusable bags,” said Jordan Christensen, a CCE program coordinator. “Since the village of Mamaroneck passed the disposable bag ban last summer, we have seen more people with reusable bags and more stores promoting BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) behavior, which goes a long way toward protecting local waterways and open spaces. Globally, waterfront communities have been leading this movement in order to protect the beaches, estuaries and oceans that their residents rely on.”
June Park, a principal for 31 years of June and Ho”™s on Purchase Street in Rye, has endured the town”™s plastic bag ban since May 2012 with few issues.
“I really have not seen a big change,” Park said. “Rye allowed for vegetables and fish and we still use a few for ice cream so the moisture does not tear the paper bag.
“A lot of our customers already came with their own bags, like you see in Europe where they do not give bags,” she said. “With the ban there is even a greater realization. Really the only problem for us was that I had printed a lot of plastic bags with our name; they”™re all upstairs now.”
“The bottom line is, it does not affect me,” said Pat Corcoran, principal at Arcade Booksellers, also on Purchase Street. “People in general are more aware of the environmental impact of plastic,” he said. “This ban was a step in the right direction. I might get a request and I tell customers plastic bags are not permitted anymore.”
– Patrick Gallagher contributed to this report
