It appears that some local stores have found a loophole around the town's plastic shopping bag ban. The CVS Pharmacy and the Shaw's Supermarket, both located in the Barrington Shopping Center, are offering plastic bags at checkout, although the bags appear to be made of a slightly thicker material and therefore do not appear to violate the local ordinance. "While they're complying with the letter of the law, it's not the spirit of the law," said Barrington Town Councilor Kate Weymouth. A few years ago, the council made Barrington the first town in Rhode Island to ban the use of plastic checkout bags. The move was cheered by some environmentalists, but also challenged by some folks who felt that the ordinance placed an unfair burden on local businesses. Ms. Weymouth said she did not hear a single negative comment about the ban once it was passed, and thought everything was fine until she walked into the Shaw's Supermarket a few weeks ago and noticed stacks of plastic bags at the checkouts. "They jacked up the thickness and put in block letters 'Reusable,'" she said. "That was really a punch in the gut." Ms. Weymouth said the point of the plastic bag ban in Barrington was to reduce the amount of plastic being brought to the landfills and scattered about the environment. She said the ordinance was designed to encourage people to use cloth or heavier plastic reusable bags. At Shaw's, management initially replaced the plastic checkout bags with heavy-duty paper bags. Any customer who forgot to bring his or her reusable bag was given free paper bags to tote home their goods. But earlier this month, Shaw's officials tweaked their policy and began charging customers for each paper bag they used. At 10 cents a piece, the new bags were not deemed bargains. "To my surprise the other day I was in the Barrington Shaw's and found I had to pay 10 cents for a paper bag for my groceries! Why? Whose idea was this?" wrote Barrington resident Susan Tucker in a recent letter to the editor. "Next you'll be paying 20 cents at the Barrington CVS and 30 cents at the Barrington Books store, unless this is already happening? This is ridiculous! "I know where I'll be doing my shopping from now… not in town!" Teena Massingill, the director of corporate public affairs for Albertsons Safeway, said there are three Shaw's markets that charge for paper checkout bags — Barrington, Brookline (Mass.), and Newburyport (Mass.) "Our goal is to encourage the use of reusable bags, which has a positive impact on the environment. Our experience has shown that, while customers can purchase a  reusable paper bag for 10 cents, the overwhelming majority choose to bring reusable bags," Ms. Massingill wrote in a recent email. "Net proceeds benefit local environmental organizations." Shaw's officials are packaging the policy as part fund-raiser — while the store is charging 10 cents per bag, it is donating any profits from the bag sales to the Barrington Land Conservation Trust. Tim Faulkner, a member of the land trust board, offered a comment regarding the bag sales — “We appreciate Shaw's generous offer to donate a portion of the proceeds from the bag sales to Barrington Land Conservation Trust. The funds will help protect and care for the town's open space and natural places.” Ms. Weymouth was not as pleased with the store's recent actions, but believes that the fastest way to get customers to change their habits is to charge them for the paper bags. "In the end, this reduces the amount of tonnage in the landfills," she said. The councilor was frustrated with the situation at CVS, where management has reportedly abandoned the use of paper bags altogether. (CVS officials did not respond to emailed requests for comments.) Ms. Weymouth said the store is using heavier plastic bags at its checkouts. "These stores, they're going to force us to deal with this issue for a third time," said Ms. Weymouth, "which is just exhausting." The council first voted on the bag ban more than a year ago, then revisited the issue when a one-year sunset clause was due to take effect. Ms. Weymouth said she expected the council to take another look at the ordinance in the near future. "I imagine we're going to bring it back up and amend the ordinance," she said.