Brookline businesses are being told to bag it up after a ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags was passed at the annual Town Meeting this week.

According to Brookline Selectwoman Jesse Mermell, the vote was pushed through with overwhelming approval.

“We will work with businesses to make sure everyone is aware of the new bylaw. It doesn’t apply to everyone,” she said.

The ban, which applies to polyethylene plastic bags at major retail establishments like CVS stores and big supermarkets with annual sales in excess of $1 million in the town, will take effect in December of 2013, according to Mermell.

“No one is carrying groceries home in their arms,” she said. “Plastic bags can be used [by businesses] if they are marine-degradable plastic or compostable. There are ones out there not made from normal plastic bags we think of everyday.”

A fee structure will be set up once the ban takes effect and retailers that disobey the new rule will be fined for the use of the plastics.

A first offense will carry a $50 fine and a $100 fine will be slapped on businesses who are found in violation of a second offense. Mermell said stores can only be fined once a week.

Technically, then, a store could pay $400 a month and continue using plastic bags, however, Mermell said that wouldn’t be “in the spirit of the law.”

Small businesses that are less than 2,500 square-feet can still use plastic bags, provided they don’t have more than 3 locations in Brookline equaling 2,500 square-feet or more, according to the new bylaw.

“They will still be an option at smaller retailers,” Mermell said.

One strange part about the proposed ban on plastic bags was that the woman who filed the legislation against the use later moved out of the state, before the proposal even passed.

“She essentially took a bill that had been filed in the State Senate, inserted language about Brookline and got the signatures [she needed], and then moved to Colorado,” Mermell told BostInno.  “Never to be heard from again.”

The petition was then “adopted” by other residents and tweaked accordingly.

Now, people are questioning what it could mean for their everyday lives and tasks.

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Mermell, when asked, noted that the bag ban won’t be a problem for people wondering how they should now pick up dog waste when taking their pets for a stroll.

“I have a dog, and we use plastic bags that are meant to pick up dog waste that we buy at TJ Maxx,” she said. “Plastic bags on newspapers in the morning and the bags used to get produce— we will still will have those.”

Brookline has had similar bans in the past in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. A night prior to the bag banishment, citizens passed an bylaw that would effectively keep businesses from using Styrofoam cups and containers.

Boston City officials have been trying to pass a similar rule here in the Hub.

Earlier this year, City Council President Stephen Murphy filed legislation to nix the use of specific Styrofoam-like containers.

 

Below are some things you won’t be able to do with plastic bags, including collecting them, once the ban goes into effect: