Committee approves ban on plastic bags
HARTFORD — As more towns wave goodbye to single-use plastic, Connecticut is moving toward a statewide ban on products including bags, straws and take-out containers.
The legislature’s Environment Committee approved legislation Monday that would ban Connecticut stores from giving customers single-use plastic bags starting in January 2020. The proposed law would require paper bags issued by stores to be 100 percent recyclable and contain 40 percent recycled material.
The proposed legislation contains no fee for obtaining a bag, although lawmakers looked at a 5-cent mandatory charge earlier this year.
Gov. Ned Lamont suggested a 10-cent surcharge on plastic bags in his state budget with all the revenue going to the state. That measure, which concerns the anti-bag advocates, would raise $30 million for the state in 2020.
The state law approved by legislators Monday would not prevent towns from having stricter regulations on bags. Stamford charges 10 cents per paper bag, and other towns, like Darien, have considered fees. Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich, New Canaan and Hamden have passed plastic bag bans.
“Certainly we would not want to impede any of the progress they have made,” said Sen. Christine Cohen, DGuilford, who chairs the Environment Committee.
The committee also advanced legislation Monday that would ban styrofoam take-out containers. Last week, the committee approved a bill that prevent restaurants from issuing plastic straws unless one is requested by the customer.
Bans on plastic bags, straws and takeout containers will need approval by the House and Senate before they take effect.
Hamden has a local plastic straw ban and Westport — where plastic straws were banned a decade ago — is looking at forbidding all single use plastics at restaurants, like straws, stirrers, cups and containers.
A group of bag-ban advocates, including Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, and Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, gathered on a beach in Westport in February to highlight the important of reducing plastic use.
“People said it couldn’t be done, (but) the state can do it, too,” Steinberg said.