After a lengthy debate Thursday, the Vermont House gave final approval Friday morning to legislation that would ban single-use plastic grocery bags and styrofoam carryout containers. It would also require restaurants and other establishments to provide plastic straws only by customer request.
The bill, S.113, passed on a voice vote, but an earlier procedural vote of 120 to 24 showed that it had broad support in the chamber.
Thursday’s debate was dominated by House Republicans, who alternated between criticizing the legislation and asking highly specific hypothetical questions about its implications for Vermonters and local businesses.
Rep. Bob Helm (R-Fair Haven) accused the bill’s supporters of “fear-mongering” about the evils of plastic waste and the impact of Vermont’s trash on the global plastic problem.
“It’s certainly not good, but it’s not that bad,” Helm said of the material, adding that he will “not take the blame for any [plastic bags] that are in the ocean.”
Rep. Patrick Brennan (R-Colchester) then took the floor to pose a lengthy string of questions for Rep. James McCullough (D-Williston), who was presenting the bill on behalf of the House Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee.
Brennan asked if businesses would still be allowed to give out plastic lids for paper cups. “Most lids are opaque,” Brennan pointed out. “Is that still okay?”
Later in the debate, Rep. Bill Canfield (R-Fair Haven) asked again whether such lids would be acceptable. After House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) reminded Canfield not to ask questions that have already been answered, he turned his questioning to hot drinks — asking whether foam coffee cups would be allowed if customers filled them up within a store, but not right at the point of sale, and then walked to the point of sale to pay for the coffee.
McCullough was ready: Those cups would be banned, he said.
Brennan also quipped that the bill’s intention to rid Vermont of plastic waste might just eliminate the need for Green Up Day cleanups. But if it doesn’t, he wondered if organizers would still be allowed to distribute green garbage bags to Vermonters helping to clean up. McCullough said that as long as the bags weren’t given out at a “point of sale” for groceries or other goods, they would still be allowed.
Once his questions were answered, Brennan said the legislation was “another little jab at small business” and would “put a sign up, in neon this time, that says ‘We’re not open for business here in Vermont.’”
Rep. Bill Lippert (D-Hinesburg) wasn’t impressed by the hair-splitting in the extended floor debate.
“We should be embarrassed,” he said on the House floor, adding that the bill was vocally supported by youth activists looking to the legislature to protect their future.
Rep. Patrick Seymour (R-Sutton) stood to agree with Lippert. Seymour, 23, said he is one of those young people. Unlike his fellow Republicans, Seymour said he doesn’t see why the legislation is so controversial.
“This is honestly the bare minimum that this legislation could be, and it could be a heck of a lot more stringent,” he said.
The Senate, which passed an earlier version of the bill, is expected to review House changes to it next week. Though Gov. Phil Scott has not made a firm commitment, he suggested at a press conference Thursday that he’d be willing to sign it.
“It sounds like the grocers and retailers are OK with this,” Scott said. “They’ll find other means of bagging your groceries. If they’re OK with it, then I’m OK with it.”
John Walters contributed reporting.
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My only concern about eliminating plastic is that some of the alternatives, like canvas bags, would seem to be more absorbent and likely to hold onto contaminants, unless washed after every grocery trip.
I’m open to being pointed out as incorrect, but I’d like more information with that, not simply being told I’m wrong.
“we did it, Patrick! We saved the city.”
It’s a law. Splitting hairs is important.
“adding that the bill was vocally supported by youth activists looking to the legislature to protect their future”
I don’t know if this is an appeal to authority or appeal to ignorance, but it’s a fallacious argument and should be mocked.
Reps. Helm, Brennan and Canfield don’t see the importance of scaling back use of plastic? I think asking another $.10 for a cup of coffee isn’t going to tank a business. It’s our responsibility to do better to protect the environment and if they don’t support this bill it is an embarassment. Oh and for Mr. Brennan did you Green Up along the main roadways this weekend? We collected 6 large bags, half full of tossed out non biodegradable plastic containers, near a watershed where the local deer flourish.
Most people don’t use the LL Bean type “canvas” bags for groceries but bags that can be washed. We’re making them out of tee shirts, home dcor fabric we pick up at thrift stores, and unbleached muslin. All can be easily washed. I’m opposed to using “oil cloth” which is just more plastic. Please folks, don’t replace your plastic bags with MORE plastic!
Hemp is now legal. EVERYTHING made of plastic can be made from hemp, which is biodegradable. This ban will not kill business, but create new opportunities for this cash crop. Quit living in the past that is destroying our planet, and stand with the young people who have to live in that future.
I am going to be saving all my bags till the law is enacted so I can keep using them. I already recycle plastics why can’t I just put my bags in with my other plastics.
Instead of Green up day one day a year, I wish people would pick up there trash year round. We keep our property next to the road picked up year round and it is a continual process. Perhaps there would be less of an issue if people picked up after themselves.
If you have a problem with this then I’m guessing you’re not down with doing anything necessary to mitigate our current environmental impact? We stopped using plastic bags in 2008 when I was given 4 free reusables at an event. We have those same four, plus enough to use for any type of shopping trip – mall, grocer, market, etc…
It’s not a big deal, it’s not something to complain about, it’s not worth the negative effort to keep others from switching over. Always moving forward….let’s go!
@ethanrogati great question…we stopped all single use plastics about 6 years ago. First grocer bags, then containers, then veg bags and so on…
We have some basic reusables that we use for packaged items, we’re vegetarian so we don’t need to worry about meat juice (good band name) but we do have 4 canvas bags that hold the “other” stuff. After a trip if they seem like they got something on them, like our clothing, they get tossed in the hamper and washed with clothes.
I wash all our bags once a month and even have two large, plastic-y ikea bags for most anything else and they can be hosed off or wiped down.
So are trash bags, sandwich bags, plastic wrap and all of the plastic things going to be banned or what? I reuse my plastic bags and use them for a lot of different things…..
Thanks, CPhillips. I appreciate the input. I’m not complaining about the idea of giving up plastic, just noting that the changeover might have other things that need to be considered, such as the increased water use due to washing reusable bags.
I hadn’t considered the idea of eliminating the foods that might contaminate reusable bags from my diet. I don’t seem to physically handle well alternative sources of protein other than meat, at least not on a permanent, long term basis, but your idea has validity to it.
Thanks for your well-reasoned response. Much valued.
It’s always interesting how Republicans always try to play the “It’s bad for business” card, even when something like this legislation will cost businesses nothing and will save them money by not having to buy plastic bags. It’s not that hard to get in the habit of taking your own bag into a store, especially if you keep them in your car, so you will always have them. Shoppers have been using their own bags in Europe for years. If Europeans are capable of doing it, why can’t we? But I can see that any Republicans who take campaign money from big oil, (like the Koch Bros, who flooded the state with campaign money to Republicans) might be opposed to a plastic ban if it does not please their corporate sponsors who they are beholden too. This is why we need to get corporate money out of politics.
This bill is stupid because it is BAD for the environment. The committees heard testimony that making paper bags produces more greenhouse gas than the thin plastic bags, require more natural resources, and it takes four trucks (diesel emissions) to deliver the same amount of paper bags as one truck does for plastic. When stores stopped giving away thin plastic bags at check out, sales of thick plastic garbage bag liner spiked up 120%, so you’re not taking plastic out of the waste stream. Even worse are the cloth and plastic fabric bags, which require vast environmental resources (tractors, pesticides, water, etc) to grow the cotton for the cloth bags, and they are manufactured in Asia, so have to be transported by cargo ship (fuel oil) to the US. And, adding insult to injury, this policy puts out of work US based union jobs manufacturing thin plastic bags, and rewards the Asian countries that are doing the overwhelming bulk of polluting the oceans with plastic! Everything has an upside and a downside. Our legislators made the worst choice possible.