Larchmont enacts plastic bag ban
The Larchmont Village Board unanimously passed March 19 an ordinance banning single-use disposable plastic bags from checkout counters in the village.
The resolution mandates the use of reusable bags and paper bags produced of recycled materials.
“Plastic bags are environmentally harmful and completely unnecessary,” said Jordan Christensen, Hudson Valley program coordinator for Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE), an advocacy group that dates to 1985 and that claims 80,000 members in New York and Connecticut. “CCE commends the Village of Larchmont for passing a resolution that will substantially increase reusable bag use among residents. This law will prevent the use of tens of thousands of plastic bags each year, which pollute Westchester”™s parks and beaches and damage the Long Island Sound.”
According to the CCE, in the last two years, the Village of Mamaroneck and City of Rye had similar bans on plastic bags pass unanimously. And Westport, Conn., and both Southampton and East Hampton have already implemented bans in an effort to protect the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound.
“The Village of Larchmont is the latest municipality in a growing regional movement to protect the Long Island Sound and to reduce litter by banning disposable bags,” said Christensen. “Globally, waterfront communities have been leading this movement in order to protect the beaches, estuaries, and oceans that their residents rely on.”