Ban On Single-Use Plastic Bags Takes Effect In Doylestown Township

The new ordinance bans businesses and restaurants in the township from providing plastic bags or non-recyclable bags to its customers for groceries, purchases and take out food orders.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  A ban on single-use plastic and non-recyclable bags is officially on the books in Doylestown Township.

Following a six month grace period, Doylestown Township’s Single-Use Plastic Ordinance went into effect on Nov. 21 at stores and restaurants throughout the township, including Weis Markets at Mercer Square, Giant Market at the Doylestown Pointe Plaza on Route 611, and Kohl’s Department store at the Barn Plaza.

The new ordinance bans businesses and restaurants in the township from providing plastic bags or non-recyclable bags to its customers for groceries, purchases and take out food orders.

Under the new single use plastics ordinance, customers will need to bring a reusable bag or be prepared to purchase a paper or reusable bag at the checkout register for a fee.

Last May, the Doylestown Township Board of Supervisors approved the ban, which is aimed at reducing the number of plastic bags ending up in the environment and to mitigating long-term health concerns caused by plastic waste in the environment.

Doylestown Township is the latest municipality in Bucks County to institute such a ban.

In 2022, Solebury Township became the first municipality in Bucks to ban single-use plastic bags along with plastic straws and polystyrene food containers. Doylestown Borough followed suit in 2023, implementing a ban on single-use plastic bags. And earlier this year, Newtown Township and Newtown Borough joined the movement, implementing a ban on single-use plastic bags in April and September respectively.

Statewide bans are in place in New York, New Jersey and Delaware. To date, a statewide ban has not been approved by the Pennsylvania legislature. The bans in the Commonwealth have instead
come from the municipal level, spurred on by PennEnvironment, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization based in Philadelphia that is working with municipalities in implementing and spreading the bans at the grassroots level with the ultimate goal of persuading the state legislature to pass a statewide ban.

According to PennEnvironment, Pennsylvanians use an estimated 4.75 billion single-use plastic bags every year. The bags are used for just a few minutes and then thrown “away,' but there is no “away,” says the organization. Plastic bags and the single-use plastics end up in landfills, incinerators, or they break down into microplastics in the environment, where they can last for hundreds of years, if not longer, harming wildlife, waterways, and the public health.

An extensive study conducted by PennEnvironment in 2022 found microplastics in waterways throughout Pennsylvania and in concentrated amounts in fish, wildlife and in humans.

Courtesy: www.patch.com

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