Credit: Luciano Paris / Unsplash.com
The township has not yet set a date for a vote on a drafted ordinance that would reduce items such as single-use plastic shopping bags.
With a set-aside time for public comment strictly on the matter, the Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors discussed once again the “plastic bag” ordinance.
During its Aug. 20 session, the supervisors heard from many community members concerned about the Single-Use Plastics Ordinance, which has often been referred to as a plastic bag ordinance, after announcing the possible draft two weeks prior.
“Whitpain Township started this process a while back,” said Board Chairman Scott Badami during the August public meeting. “Indeed, last year, we submitted a comprehensive survey to about 50 local businesses, from our smallest businesses to some of our largest, from one end of the township to the other. And we received quite a lot of comments.”
Badami said the results of the survey were mixed.
“Some of the businesses were absolutely in favor of a plastic bag ban ordinance,” he said. “Others were somewhere in the middle. Some were opposed.”
Despite the varying opinions on the matter, the Chairman said that there was a common goal among the responses.
“But what we did also see in the comments was a consistent theme,” said Badami. “That consistent theme said, ‘whatever you’re going to do, please, please communicate, communicate, and communicate. And make sure what you do is in a manner in which everybody knows about it so businesses aren’t put in a difficult situation with respect to consumers who are coming in.’”
Badami said that, as always, the township wants to do what is best for all.
“Nobody wants to see businesses lose customers because of something like this,” he said.
Following the business survey feedback, the supervisors asked Alexander M. Glassman, a solicitor from Rudolph Clarke, LLC Attorneys at Law, to prepare language around a potential ordinance so that they may review the concept. After a few edits by township staff, the concept was sent over to the Whitpain Township Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) for review, as well.
“I want to give the EAC a tip of the cap for providing thoughtful, helpful comments to try to make a draft better and stronger so that it would work,” said the Chairman.
Badami added that board’s newest addition, Supervisor Sara Selverian, had also worked extensively on the matter. That “rough draft,” so to speak, is the current Ordinance No. 416 up for discussion. During the Aug. 20 supervisors’ meeting, it was an item on the agenda simply listed as “Public Discussion.” No action would be taken on the item, rather it was posted to review in that public meaning to gain residents’ feedback.
Rob Gerritsen, a 17-year resident of Whitpain Township, prepared slides to present, though he only wanted to focus his concerns on plastic and paper bags. The ordinance also encompasses plastic utensils and polystyrene (Styrofoam) products.
“This has been done before, many, many places,” said Gerritsen, who noted specific studies on a ban in California in 2014 and New Jersey in 2020. “The results have been unintended consequences.”
Gerritsen said that the California attempt 10 years ago resulted in a 50 percent increase in plastic waste when the state began charging for the use of plastic bags. His sited source, an entry by the Environmental Health Network (EHN), is available online.
In the study by EHN, they found that the legislation’s ban on plastic bags forced many into a “loophole” that permitted the use of thicker bags, actually increasing the amount of plastic used instead of lessening it. It notes that, in other states since, the pitfall California discovered was prevented by adopting more, stricter, language into law.
Gerritsen also presented a Forbes article that noted that after New Jersey’s laws were put into action in 2022 after passing in 2020, which stated that the Garden State used 53 million pounds worth of plastic bags prior to the ban, and 151 million pounds since the prohibition was instituted.
The local resident went on to say that, while “reusable” bags are the goal, they are typically only used two to three times. These reusable bags are often made with far more plastic, to create a thicker lining. As they’re frequently forgotten, consumers tend to have to purchase them more often than intended. This unintentionally creates a larger consumption of plastics, while a legislature is attempting to lessen it.
He also said that the process of making reusable bags often requires far more pollution and damage to the ecosystem from creation of materials to production of bags, to the shipping and distribution efforts between each step.
Bob Trejo, a township resident and local Boy Scout Troop leader for Troop #98, also provided his comments to the August session.
“We try really hard to teach environmental stewardship,” said Trejo of his troop’s efforts, while also thanking Gerritsen for his data.
“I’ve got this stack of bags at home, I don’t know if anybody else has these,” said Trejo. “I don’t want to throw them away. I stuff them in a special little carrier that I think I got off of Amazon. It’s probably plastic itself.”
The scoutmaster said that, despite his best of intentions, he often forgets to bring these bags for reuse.
“I hit myself in the head every time that I go to the store, and I didn’t grab those bags and take them with me,” he said. “For me, I just need to get better. I don’t think that’s a really good justification for us to at least not give this a try.”
Trejo said that he and his boy scouts, numbering in the 80s, focus on changing behaviors to make a difference.
“Lean into this. Let’s give it a try. I think we can do better for our future generations,” he said.
Bonnie Vandenberg, of Blue Bell, is a member of the Blue Bell Residents’ Association’s Environmental Committee. She said she was in favor of the amendment, along with her committee.
“Well designed single-use plastic bans reduce waste and litter by one third or more when implemented,” said Vandenberg. “We believe that banning single-use plastics is crucial for a healthier planet and a brighter future for all of us and those that come after us.”
She added that plastics are polluting the world’s oceans at an estimated 8 million tons a year.
“It takes more than 500 years for plastics to degrade,” said Vandenberg. She added that, even as they do, microplastics formed while they degrade are seeping into foods and drinking water causing an alarming number of health conditions in those of all ages.
Vandenberg said that 12 states in the country have already instituted similar bans.
“Although Pennsylvania lags behind, many Pennsylvania municipalities, including the city of Philadelphia, have forged ahead on their own,” said the Whitpain Township resident. She said Whitpain should follow, as good stewards of the environment.
Vandenberg brought sources of her own, noting that a 2023 study in Philadelphia found that the ban “prevented over 200 million disposable plastic bags from being distributed in its first year.”
The same study noted that, while it took the first three months to taper, the city’s plastic bag usage remained at a steady decreased rate “near zero for the remainder of the study.”
David Doll said that, so many of the mentioned resources cited in the evening’s meeting were educational and helpful, and may, in themselves, contain a wealth of knowledge.
“It’s very insightful. The point [Gerritsen] made at the very beginning was that this has been done before, and he’s right,” said Doll. “Looking at all that information, the obvious conclusion is to use that. I would challenge this board to lean into that data and use it to do something better.”
Noting that “there are lessons in that data,” Doll said that “the obvious path is to learn from that,” creating a better-worded, and stronger application, of pre-existing legislatures’ attempts “to move it forward, not to go back.”
Doll even joked the goal wasn’t to “Make Plastics Great Again,” but rather to learn from the “mistakes” of others and use their learned lessons to apply concepts to the current drafted ordinance.
Sue Royer, chairwoman of the township’s EAC, also spoke at the August discussion on the matter. She said that her six-member supervisor-appointed committee is designed to “foster sustainable practices within the township.”
Royer said that an “advantage to not being cutting edge,” means that Whitpain is able to learn from what others have already done on the matter.
“We’ve seen the things that haven’t worked, and why, and they’ve been able to craft the ordinance accordingly,” said Royer. “This ordinance will have significant environmental impact.”
Several others spoke, largely in favor, of the single-use plastic ban. Badami thanked the many residents’ who came to the August meeting to share their thoughts.
“On behalf of the township and board of supervisors, we very, very much appreciate everybody coming to share this part of public comment with us,” said Badami. “Remember, we’re going to do this again at our next meeting.”
The Sept. 3, 6 p.m., work session picked up where the Aug. 20 business meeting left off, offering residents, business owners, and concerned citizens alike to speak once again on the topic.
Timothy M. Knowles, of Whitpain, began the Sept. 3 meeting input as not just a citizen but as a business owner of the township, as well.
“I saw some criticism that was based on a study in New Jersey,” said Knowles, as he’d viewed the previous business meeting online. “It’s important to know that that study was commissioned by the plastic bag industry. They paid for that study. They got the result they wanted.”
Knowles also noted that the study’s methodology, which only included the ban’s first seven to eight months. He said it takes the public longer to adapt than that sometimes.
“They didn’t interview consumers,” said Knowles of the Garden State study. “They looked at the plastic industry constituents.”
He said this skewed the counts by firstly, asking the wrong people, but also given the Jersey Shore is a large part of the state, summer beachgoers and renters are not likely to have known about the May-introduced ban, meaning each visitor likely had to purchase reusable bags, further skewing figures.
“Thankfully, we [Whitpain] are not New Jersey,” he said, crediting an EAC and board of supervisors that are very transparent and open to communication. He said the study really “doesn’t apply” to the environment in Whitpain.
Elizabeth McKeon, of Whitpain, asked if merchants could be “encouraged” to sell reusable bags, instead of having “a ban about them.” She felt that, if “establishments would just provide a bag, that would change over where people would use them.” She called a ban “a little draconian.”
Ruth Change, also on the EAC, spoke in September’s meeting, in order to attest to the amount of effort this proposed draft ordinance involved.
“Over the past two years, I’ve personally spent countless hours learning about the negative effects of single-use plastics on the environment and on human health,” she said. “I’ve also spent a great deal of time researching it, analyzing single-use plastic ordinances in the local area surrounding Whitpain. I’ve learned what works. More importantly, I’ve learned what hasn’t.”
She said the township’s ordinance provides specific language to “eliminate loopholes seen in older ordinances.” She said that, while we may never be able to eliminate the use of single-use plastics, reducing the use is worth the effort and can make a “powerful impact.”
Royer, who’d spoken in August, came to September’s public comment to represent Ellie Stein, the high school student representative on the EAC.
Stein prepared a statement, which Royer read from, for the work session, calling herself “part of a generation that has had to witness the devastating effects of plastic pollution and the pitiful lack of work being done to remedy it.”
“As I look to the future of this township, I see this plastics’ ordinance as a first step toward a sustainable future, one that I, and each of my young counterparts, have to face sooner or later,” wrote Stein. “For me, this ordinance is not as much about eliminating plastics now, but about facilitating the coordination of valuable habits that will last our community forever.”
Stein added that society, not just in Whitpain but throughout the country, values convenience over sustainability, calling the “$5 spent on a reusable tote” far less of an impact than the cost of such waste.
Badami again thanked speakers who attended the Sept. 3 work session, noting that if anyone had hoped to speak on the matter, but could not make them in person, could still email the board at supervisors@whitpaintownship.org.
Badami added that the board will be taking in all of the comments, both emailed and given during meetings, into consideration before setting a precise agenda item for a vote. No such date has yet been announced.
