On January 1, 2023, Easttown’s ban went into effect. You can find a comprehensive FAQ page on the Easttown site. Download the 2-sided pdf designed for commercial establishments here.

Click here for the text of Easttown’s very useful and well-footnoted 2022 “Economics of Single Use Plastic Bags” document, showing how—alongside the environmental benefits, of course—retailers, recycling facilities and municipalities gain financially from a reduction in plastic waste. Here are the concluding paragraphs:

…Beyond global energy and emissions constraints, the major environmental risk posed by single use plastic bags is their inability to decompose. Over time, plastics degrade to smaller microplastics that can be ingested by the smallest species at the base of our aquatic and terrestrial food webs. Ultimately, limiting single use plastics in the food web limits our own intake of plastics from our food and water sources.

In summary, plastic bag bans reduce all these costs for municipalities, costs which are passed on to residents, by reducing the amount of plastic pollution and waste we need to handle. For businesses the impact is that a plastic bag ban with a fee on other bags reduces overall single use bag use. With less demand for bags, businesses don’t need to purchase and stock as many bags, saving them costs. And although paper is more expensive than plastic, having a built-in fee for paper bags covers the difference, so businesses don’t need to pay more.

Model handout for Easttown retailers: