Plastic Bag Ban Preparations Underway, Questions to be Answered at Info Session

Marblehead business owners have been invited to meet with the Board of Health next week to answer questions about the ban on plastic bags that will go into place next year.

The informational session will focus on the warrant article passed at Town Meeting in May that will eliminate the use of single use plastic bags by May 15, 2015.

The article passed by voters called for the Board of Health, the Director of Public Health and people designated by the Director of Public Health to enforce the new town bylaw, which will be phased in over 12 months.

In addition, voters also approved a ban on styrofoam containers.

A violation of the bylaw will result in a written warning the first time, then a $25 fine followed by a $50 fine for any subsequent violations.

The ban on styrofoam containers does not pertain to the packaging of uncooked meat, uncooked poultry and uncooked meat.

Plastic bag bans are also in place in Brookline, Great Barrington, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Nantucket, according to CBS Boston.

The information session is planned for Thursday, Oct. 16 at The Landing Restaurant, 81 Front St. from 5:30–7:30 p.m. There will be free appetizers and a cash bar.

“We hope these information sessions will be helpful as businesses learn to adopt these new changes,” the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce said in an announcement about the session.

There will be “an opportunity for questions and dialogue about the recent warrant articles,” the Chamber said in its announcement. Members of the Marblehead Board of Health will be available to answer questions about the implementation and enforcement of the new rules. The Board of Health is anticipating sharing information about the experiences of communities across the state that already have similar regulations on the books. The board also hopes to assist by helping find “preferable purchasing options and alternative products.”

The ban on thin-film plastic bags was pushed because the bags have a “significant detrimental impact on the environment, including contributing to the potential death of marine animals through ingestion and entanglement, contributing to pollution of the land environment, creating a burden to solid waste collection and recycling facilities, clogging storm drainage systems and requiring the use of millions of barrels of crude oil nationally for their manufacture,” according to the article passed at Town Meeting.