Board orders businesses to accept plastic bags for recycling

By Jack Nicas

The Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance on Thursday evening ordering all businesses of 5,000 square feet or more to facilitate the recycling of plastic bags within their stores. The ordinance requires those businesses to display a visible sign encouraging plastic bag reuse and recycling and a visible bin to recycle the bags.

Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah L. Gerwitz proposed the ordinance in February to the Legislative Matters committee. She said plastic bags are a problem, and even though “plastic bag recycling isn’t going to solve the problem, it will help to raise awareness… let people know that it is a problem, and… tell businesses that they need to step up and provide this service on site so that people can recycle their plastic bags.”

Her enthusiasm on the issue was met with praise on Thursday evening, as her fellow aldermen reiterated her sentiments. Alderman-at-Large Bruce M. Desmond said, “We have to start doing whatever we can to help the environment. It is a simple ordinance that isn’t going to take a lot of resources from the city to maintain and does nothing but establish good practices.”

However, questions arose when the issue of actually recycling the plastic bags came to light. Stephen Mackey, president of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce, said one question kept cropping up every time he spoke to a local business owner: “I’d love to comply, but where do I send the bags?”

“That question hasn’t been answered,” Mackey said. “We’d very much like to move to adoption, but at 10,000 square feet rather than 5,000.”

“The difference is, generally speaking, that’s usually the demarcation between large chain stores and otherwise locally-owned independent stores,” he said. “The concern for the smaller stores is what do they do after the bins fill up; where do the bags go?”

Gerwitz said businesses under the ordinance would have to contact a hauler and arrange to have the bags picked up. Ward 2 Alderman Maryann M. Heuston said the situation is much like how “food establishments have to take care of their own grease.”

“Right now there are several companies that will pick up and haul away these plastic bags,” Gerwitz said. “In fact, businesses gain from this, because when they recycle their bags, they actually get a cut of the money that comes back.”

Mackey said it wouldn’t be that easy: “It doesn’t make sense to send a truck to the store every day to pick up bags, so what they’ll do is probably transport them by the ton. Now I wonder how many plastic bags make a ton and how much space that would take up in a smaller store.”

Alderman-at-Large John M. Connolly proposed an amendment at Thursday’s Board of Aldermen meeting to increase the required square footage for compliance to 10,000 square feet. After some debate, that amendment was rejected.

“This is not an onerous piece of work we’re asking these stores to do,” Heuston said at the meeting. “I could do this in my own home.”

Alderman-at-Large William A. White Jr. said he was considering increasing the requirement to 10,000 square feet as well, but “given the fact that there’s been no indication there are onerous fees imposed upon [the businesses]… and there is money involved, then the ordinance seems to me to make sense.”

Ward 4 Alderman Walter F. Pero opposed the ordinance altogether. He said he would prefer curbside recycling, “rather than make businesses who may or may not know how to dispose of plastic bags” take on the responsibility.

Gerwitz said, “I want to make sure this is a fair ordinance for businesses, but at the same time we really need to step up on this issue… Businesses 5,000 square feet or more should have the capacity to be able to do this.” She said she had received no negative feedback from businesses on the ordinance.

The board and Mackey all do agree on one point: the need to recycle plastic bags.

“This is something that’s necessary for the country, necessary for the world,” Desmond said, “and we should be doing it right here in Somerville.”

Gerwitz began the discussion on Thursday with a statistic: “Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, requiring 12 million barrels of oil.”

She said other cities have addressed the problem, including New York City and Chicago, and that Boston was considering an all-out ban on the bags. “Now is Somerville’s chance to help lead the way,” she said.

However, Mackey said New York was experiencing a similar debate over square footage. He said the city counsel voted for 5,000 square feet while the state legislature opted for 10,000.

He said he’ll be watching “how New York City solves the problem for independent stores,” because that’s basically where the problem lies.

“I’ll be doing more work to find out what the solutions are for small businesses,” Mackey said. “Hopefully one will come up and everyone will be taken care of, but so far we haven’t found it.”