A plastic cup sits in the driveway to the Wawa at Sumneytown Pike and Valley Forge Road in Upper Gwynedd on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Like many other surrounding townships, the issue of the use of single-use plastics has become a hot topic.
Some local areas have already instituted a ban on plastics, while others are continuing to evaluate the pros and cons of such a move. Lower Gwynedd Township is one of those areas where discussions will be held to determine if using single-use plastics, doing away with them altogether, or meeting somewhere in the middle will be beneficial to the township and local businesses.
The Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) will be holding an open-house style community discussion on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lower Gwynedd Township Building, 1130 N Bethlehem Pike, Spring House, with community members to have a proactive discussion on this topic.
The EAC is looking to conduct an open discussion to educate residents on the environmental impact of plastic bags, discussing policies, alternatives and sustainable practices. Representatives from Ambler Borough, Montgomery Township, and other surrounding areas will be in attendance.
Single-use plastics are commonly used for packaging, food containers, and other disposable items like straws, bags, and cutlery, due to their convenience, cost-effectiveness, and ease of manufacturing. However, single-use plastics are a major source of pollution, ending up in landfills, waterways, and oceans, where they break down into microplastics that contaminate soil and water. Single-use plastics can pose significant harm, impacting wildlife, the environment, and human health through pollution, chemical leaching, and the creation of microplastics.
“There's a lot of municipalities who are looking at the single-use plastics and it is a big topic, locally,” said Sandi Feight-Hicks, Recreation Director of Lower Gwynedd Township. “The EAC has a long-range plan and the single-use plastics was a part of this. That was the first thing that they decided to take on this year.”
Lower Gwynedd Township is made up of a number of small businesses and this decision could impact those bottom lines.
“Our supervisors don't want to just rush into something,” Feight-Hicks said. “We were looking at (the open house as) one part education, but then also investigating the impacts that this would have on our businesses in the community. We are still a very strong ,mom-and-pop township; we don't have that many big businesses in our township, not like our neighbors like Montgomery Township or Upper Merion."
Feight-Hicks said that Lower Gwynedd will be looking into plastic bags, plastic utensils, and straws, among other uses.
“We’re looking into how other municipalities have handled the single-use plastics,” she said. “Have they just done the plastic bags? Have they done fees for the bags? Have they put a ban on Styrofoam? We’re also looking at plastic utensils and plastic straws.”
According to Feight-Hicks, trash haulers have seen a decrease in use of plastics in what they're seeing being recycled and coming through the processing plant. Other businesses have already taken an environmentally-friendly approach before any ban on plastics has occurred.
“We're nine square miles,” Feight-Hicks said about Lower Gwyedd. “We do still have a lot of mom-and-pop businesses. In addition, there's also a lot of businesses in the township that have already started taking that eco-friendly approach and switching from plastic bags to using paper bags or even not even using bags.”
