Barrington Town Council bans use, sale of plastics in town

Cheers fill council chambers after law is voted through

Posted 2/5/19

Plastics prohibited.

That was the message from the Barrington Town Council at Monday night's meeting, where members voted to approve a new ordinance banning the use of polystyrene plastics in …

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Barrington Town Council bans use, sale of plastics in town

Cheers fill council chambers after law is voted through

Posted

Plastics prohibited.

That was the message from the Barrington Town Council at Monday night's meeting, where members voted to approve a new ordinance banning the use of polystyrene plastics in town. 

After a short discussion and some supportive comments from residents, the council voted unanimously (4-0) to approve the new polystyrene ban ordinance. Nearly everyone inside the council chambers cheered and applauded after the vote was taken. 

The new law prohibits local businesses from selling polystyrene plastics, which includes Styrofoam. The law also bans Barrington businesses from packaging items in polystyrene products. No longer can businesses use Styrofoam coffee cups or polystyrene plastic food containers — they must use packaging that is biodegradable or compostable. 

Local businesses must comply with the new law by July 1.

Barrington resident Amy O'Donnell spoke at the meeting. She said she supported the polystyrene ban and was proud that Barrington was leading the way — this town is the first community in Rhode Island to ban the use of polystyrene plastics.

Barrington Town Council President Michael Carroll said the new ordinance will hopefully spur other communities to follow Barrington and draft their own laws banning plastics. 

Mr. Carroll said some people initially questioned the impact Barrington's plastic shopping bag ban would have when a council approved that measure six years ago. He said a number of Rhode Island towns followed (and continue to follow) Barrington's lead with that ban.

Tony Morettini attended the council meeting on Monday night. The Bristol resident said Barrington's plastic bag ban served as an inspiration to Bristol, which recently passed its own ordinance. Mr. Morettini said he hopes Bristol will follow Barrington and draft a polystyrene ban as well.

Council members Jacob Brier and Kate Weymouth offered an amendment to the polystyrene ban which allows local businesses to have a small amount of plastic items — mainly drinking straws — available for individuals who have special disabilities requiring the use of those items. 

Toward the end of the discussion, Ms. Weymouth offered a brief statement regarding the ban. She reached behind the council table and picked up a trash bag filled with garbage. Ms. Weymouth, a driving force behind the legislation, said she and a friend went for a walk earlier in the day and during the walk she filled the entire bag with trash. She said that aside from one glass nip bottle and one beer can, all the other trash was made of plastic.

Ms. Weymouth also said she cringed while watching the Super Bowl celebration on Sunday night because of the mylar confetti that rained down on the Patriots. She then made a motion to adopt the new ordinance. Councilor Steve Boyajian seconded the motion, and it passed 4-0. 

Barrington officials also held a workshop late last month to further educate residents and business owners on the plastics ban. Only one business owner attended the workshop.

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.