Cambridge has the opportunity to become the largest East Coast city to ban plastic bags from commercial use. While this might seem like a no-brainer for a city boasting cutting-edge universities, innovative companies and a reputation for environmental consciousness, legislation has peculiarly stalled.
City Councilor Dennis Carlone attempted to bring the Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance to a vote on Monday, December 15, after seven years of analysis, consideration and public hearings. A similar measure, though, also introduced to the City Council proved to be a spoiler for the ordinance.
The Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance calls for the City of Cambridge to prohibit the use and distribution of polyethylene from commercial establishments because they’re not biodegradable and have the potential to be toxic.
The competing bill, drafted by the Department of Public Works, is much weaker. It provides a broader definition to what constitutes plastic bags, thereby giving establishments plenty of leeway to work around it in certain circumstances.
According to Cambridge Day, Councilor Leland Cheung delayed the legislation from being voted into law when, back in February, he kept the ordinance in committee by suggesting the city “investigate different fees, rules on bag thickness, treatment of paper bags, a longer timeframe for implementation and whether to add compostable bags – controversial because their ability to compost is questioned – to the rules.”
Nothing ever came of this, however. He then suggested the city conceive ideas on how to best modify the ordinance so that it might be voted on favorably.
According to the Massachusetts Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization, the City Council was unable to come to terms to combine the two measures, opting not to move forward solely with the Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance. Instead, yet another Ordinance Committee hearing has been scheduled for February 4, 2015 to vet it out further. Ideas per Councilor Cheung’s request will also be discussed.
“If the council opts to proceed with this alternate bill, it would likely require a new round of committee hearings, essentially restarting a hearing process that was already completed last year,” warned Councilor Carlone on his blog prior to the vote.
Cambridge Mayor David Maher is hardly a champion of the ordinance. In fact, he seems more worried about the status of peoples’ material goods than the positive impact the ordinance will have on the environment.
“You have very expensive stationery stores in situations where, on a rainy day, if someone is putting an expensive product into a paper bag, it’s going to get ruined,” Maher told said at a public hearing back in October.
It seems Councilor Carlone and his constituents of the same mind will have to wait until next year to make their case again. But that may not be such a bad thing. With the surefire wave of New Year resolutions poised to overtake Greater Boston, perhaps Mayor Maher’s and Public Works’ will be to act a bit more sympathetic towards Mother Nature.
