Another major city bans single-use plastic bags

Boston has joined in on taking environmentally friendly steps to curbing plastic pollution by putting a ban on single-use bags.

This new ban will go into effect next autumn.

The ban means stores can charge customers who don’t bring reusable bags 5 cents for thicker plastic bags and for paper bags.

Kirstie Pecci, the director of the Zero Waste Project at the Conservation Law Foundation, told WBUR, “It’s a fantastic first step to a larger zero-waste mentality.”

While Mayor Marty Walsh said his big concern about this ban is how it will effect lower income families, there are ways in which affordable reusable bags can get into the hands of those residents.

For example, bag drives, where people donate reusable bags to residents that can’t afford them, have worked in cities like Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Today’s #ClimateNewsThatDoesntRuinYourDay is a high-5 for @marty_walsh who signed the #plasticbag ordinance for @CityOfBoston (effective 12/18) We know there are still social equity questions to solve, but think he made the right choice! https://t.co/JTcR2kiNTH #thefutureisgreen

— Climable.org (@climable) December 19, 2017

Plastic bag bans and fees are already present in Austin, Cambridge, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boulder, Brownsville, Montgomery County, New York, Portland ME and Washington DC.

Let’s hope other cities will join this movement!