Some Would Like to See Guilford Ban Plastic Bags

GUILFORD, CT - Some in town would like to see Guilford join the small number of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities that ban plastic bags.

At the most recent Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman Matt Hoey said he had received a correspondence from a resident who was asking whether Guilford might adopt such an initiative.

Hoey said that he believes there are two or three different groups ion town who have been working on similar initiatives to try and make Guilford plastic free.

Hoey told his fellow selectmen that while there is nothing underway currently it wouldn’t surprise him if the board is asked at some point, perhaps by petition, to consider a ban on plastic bags as a way to protect the environment.

Environmentalists state that plastic packaging – especially the ubiquitous plastic bag – is a significant source of landfill waste and is regularly eaten by numerous marine and land animals, to fatal consequences.

Synthetic plastic does not biodegrade. It just sits and accumulates in landfills or pollutes the environment.

Plastics have become a municipal waste nightmare, prompting local governments all over the world to implement plastic bag, and increasingly polystyrene (styrofoam), bans.

If Guilford did ban plastic bags it wouldn’t be unprecedented.

Westport was the first town in the state that banned plastic bags - nearly a decade ago.

And more recently the town of Greenwich voted to ban single-use plastic bags, starting sometime this fall.

Photo by Jack Kramer