Reusable Bag Campaign
Help Make A Change, Bring Your Own Bag!
On February 11, 2019, the Town Council passed the Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance, which went into effect March 13, 2019. As of September 13, 2019, businesses are prohibited from providing plastic checkout bags.
Plastic bags are convenient and cheap. However, the environmental expense of plastic bags far exceeds the cost retailers are currently paying to provide them. There is no need for this. Simple alternatives such as reusable shopping bags are available and already used in many stores throughout the area. The Mansfield Solid Waste Advisory Committee believes that single-use plastic bags should be limited. Why?
Plastic bags are a problem when mixed with other curbside recyclables.
The Town’s recycling contractor, Willimantic Waste Paper, does not accept plastic bags with the grouping of cans, bottles, paper and cardboard because they routinely clog and shut down the sorting lines of their automated recycling facility.
Most plastic bags are not recycled.
Only a fraction are recycled by bringing them to back to stores, such as Big Y,and Price Chopper, that accept them.
Plastic bags kill wildlife.
Plastic bags are lightweight and aerodynamic, making them a good candidate for litter. Sadly, littered bags can be mistaken as food by wild animals. Plastic bags choke, strangle and entangle animals, birds, and fish on land and in water including turtles, whales, seals and sea lions in the marine environment.[ii] Many of these animals are already threatened due to over fishing or habitat loss.
Plastic bags do not biodegrade.[iii]
When plastic bags finally do break down, they do not dissolve into benign substances. Instead they fracture into smaller and smaller bits called “micro plastics.” These small particles present the greatest long-term danger, as they displace food supplies in the world’s oceans.[iv]
Plastic bags are made of non-renewable sources.
Plastic carryout bags are made from petroleum.
Resources
Reusable bags are available through a variety of retail stores. The Town is offering reusable bags for free to residents. Visit the public works/engineering office in the Town Hall for your bag.
Senior Center Bag Share - Gently used reusable bags are available in the Senior Center. Do you have too many reusable bags? Share your extras by contributing them to the bag share container. They should be clean and in good condition.
Free reusable bags have been given out at various town events.
5x8 cards and 3x4 window decals are available for vendors to remind their customers to bring their own bag. To receive them, contact the Recycling Coordinator at 860-429-3333 or waltonvd@mansfieldct.org.
 Business Strategies | Reusable Bag Tips | Pet Waste Bag Alternatives |
| Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance | Bring Your Own Bag Presentation |
[ii] Lazar, B. and R. Gracan, “ Ingestion of marine debris by loggerhead sea turrles, Caretta caretta, in the Adriatic Sea. “ 2011. Marine Pollution Bulletin 62: 43-47; United Nations Environmental Programme. “Marine Litter – Trash that kills”. 2001. (https://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/default.asp)
[iii] Algalita Marine Research Foundation, Research-Pelagic Plastic-Gyre Voyage 2002, July 26, 2002 (https//www.algalita.org/research_ffs.html).
[iv] Crump, Andrea, Marine Conservation Society, Long Term Impacts of Plastic Bags in the Marine Environmentwww.mcsuk.org/downloads/policy/coastal_polln/MCS_Long_Term_Impacts_of_Plastic_Bags_In_the_Marine_Environment_(Aug_2004).doc; https://wedocs.unep.org/.../-Marine_litter_Vital_graphics- 2016MarineLitterVG.pdf.pdf?