Dive Brief:

• The ordinance would ban plastic bags at retail locations and emphasize the importance of reusable bags of canvas or some other fabric.
• Cambridge City Councilor Dennis Carlone is also pushing for implementing a 10 cents fee per bag, charged to consumers who require paper bags. Other towns have bag bans, but do not charge a fee for paper.  “We are trying to encourage people to not even use paper bags. But that’s an option that is still better than plastic bags,” Carlone said.
• A vote could come as early as March 30. Retailers would be given a year to comply. The fee would go to retail owners, not the city.

Dive Insight:

A bag ban was voted on in 2007, but did not pass. The proposed ban has received pushback. The American Progressive Bag Alliance, a group representing plastic bag recycling companies, said recycling and education is the solution, not an outright ban. The Massachusetts Food Association, a trade organization representing the supermarket industry, said a bag ban may create hardships for businesses and force some stores to relocate to another city.