Ban the Plastic Bag & Polystyrene Container

Thank you to everyone who came out to vote at Town Meeting on April 3.

The plastic bag ban passed by 188-22 votes and the polystyrene food container ban passed by 167-22!

At Town Meeting (starting April 2)

Vote YES to Ban Plastic Checkout Bags

Vote YES to Ban Polystyrene Food Containers

You can also find this information on the Town’s website.

What is this all about?

For the health of the environment and the health of Wayland residents there are two articles for April town meeting that you should know about.

  1. The first is a bylaw that will ban thin film single-use plastic checkout bags from stores and restaurants. Bag litter detracts from Wayland’s natural beauty, and is harmful to wildlife. Plastic bags are difficult to dispose of. They cannot be part of single stream recycling, and moreover only 5 -10% are recycled today. They end up in the environment. The bylaw does not restrict other uses of plastic bags such as for newspapers, dry cleaning, and produce bags within a grocery store.
  2. The second article is a bylaw that will eliminate the use of polystyrene for food and beverage containers. There are both foam forms and rigid forms. Styrofoam is the Dow Chemical trademark name for the foam form. The rigid form is commonly used for service items such as straws, lids and utensils. Polystyrene is the only plastic used in food packaging that is based on a carcinogen. The foam form is light and breakable and is easily released into the environment where it lasts for thousands of years, damaging wildlife.

For both plastic bags and polystyrene, why are we taking fossil fuels that need millions of years to create, turn them into an item that is used for a few minutes and can then damage the environment for a 1000 years? Please learn more about the proposed bylaws here and then vote YES to both at town meeting beginning on April 2nd.

Click on the image for more information about the polystyrene container ban

Click on the image for more information on the plastic bag ban