Updated, 5:49 p.m.: Poll added. Vote yes or no, do you approve of the ban? 8:46 a.m.: Copy edits
NORWALK, Conn. – Norwalk has banned plastic carryout shopping bags. Plastic straws may be next.
Rounds of applause punctuated Tuesday’s Council meeting, where Council members voted unanimously to ban plastic shopping bags and then received a standing ovation. Mayor Harry Rilling noted afterwards that standing ovations for the Common Council are rare.
“Why now? Climate change is real, it’s happening. It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact,” Council Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Eloisa Melendez (D-District A) said. “Although this is for some people a drop in the bucket when it comes to dealing with things affecting our environment, especially given the fact that this is a very real thing that’s happening – not only in Norwalk, not only in Fairfield County, our state, our country, but in the world – we still shouldn’t feel we are powerless in this fight to deal with climate change.”
Council chambers were packed. Late arrivals stood or sat on the steps.
“We all know how important it is,” Council President Tom Livingston (D-District E) said. Livingston described Norwalk’s measure as a “hybrid ordinance,” because it bans the use of plastic bags and discourages the use of paper bags by imposing a 10-cent fee on them. “This has been shown to be the most effective type of ordinance,” he said.
More than 20 citizens spoke in favor of the ban. Some offered criticisms in addition to support.
“It’s not such a hard thing to go without plastic bags. I have been keeping returnable bags for years,” Marny Smith said. “… It’s not a big deal. I can carry two of them in each hand. As I said, I’m 86 so don’t tell me that an old woman can’t handle recycling their bags.”
“All of us here know how plastic bags are affecting everyone in our society however at school not everyone knows about the harm that plastic bags can cause,” said Roton Middle School student Roshni Yousuf. “… The plastic bag {ban} you are proposing is a great step in the right direction of making Norwalk more ecofriendly.”
“My understanding is that 65 percent of the plastic bags that were produced when I learned to drive (in 1966) are still in the environment,” Kevin Tepaz said. “My understanding is that the number of plastic bags that is produced every year continues to grow and is astounding. My understanding is that the damage this does to the environment is astounding and all I am going to suggest to the Council is the only other astounding thing would be that we don’t do something about it when we have the chance to do it.”
Person-to-Person (P2P) Executive Director Ceci Maher said the organization gives out about 53,000 bags a year as part of its food assistance program and has been looking at ways to provide reusable bags, but track the bags and also educate clients. The organization expects to receive 8,000 reusable bags as donations but that’s a long way from 53,000, she said.
“We are all in favor, and many clients are very much in favor,” she said.
Marlene Harrick said she supported the ban but also wondered how it would affect her work as a homecare provider.
“I don’t look forward to taking wet diapers into a paper bag to be tossed out,” she said. “What do you propose?”
Dog lovers “don’t exactly pick up dog waste with paper bags or paper towels,” she said.
Most Council members spoke in favor of the ban, before voting to approve it.
“I see it as a minor inconvenience to shoppers that will quickly turn into routine,” John Kydes (D-District C) said. “If that minor inconvenience can shed light and raise awareness for our deteriorating environment then I am in full support.”
“I think it does more than a drop in the bucket,” Colin Hosten (D-At Large) said. Hosten noted that Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery store chain, is banning plastic bags because they are “the fourth- or fifth-highest plastic seen in waterways.” The meeting was Hosten’s first following his appointment last month.
Darlene Young (D-District B), also attending her first Council meeting after being appointed last month, said she had planned to abstain but was moved by the young people who spoke up in support of the ban.
“We all need to do what we have to do for a future generation,” she said.
Doug Hempstead (R-District D), the Common Council’s lone Republican, said he had been chairman of the Public Works Committee when Norwalk instituted recycling.
“I understand the importance of trying to take all this stuff out of the environment. Sometimes these things lead you down a path of re-energizing and looking at other things that you never knew or thought about, about plastics that are entering our system,” Hempstead said.
Microplastics are entering the environment via laundry machines because they are in polymer textile clothing, Phys.org reports.
Hempstead said Norwalk’s bag ban should be a stepping stone, and that a ban of plastic straws could be next.
“Let’s be bold and let’s tackle some other things,” he said. The crowd applauded.
“I do believe in global warming, FYI, It’s partially manmade, trust me, I know it,” he said. “Let’s talk about composting leaves locally.”
“A lot of hard work and time and energy” went into the ordinance “to get it right,” Rilling said. “…This is a challenge now to move forward. We are going to throw that challenge down tonight.”
Rilling said he met with State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-25) Tuesday, and Duff assured him “that as this movement starts to grow the state will take it on and the state will move forward with a state-wide plastic ban.”
Dick Harris speaks to Norwalk citizens, Tuesday in City Hall.
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