WESTBOROUGH – The town’s new plastics reduction bylaw is about to go live.
Approved by residents at Town Meeting in the fall, the bylaw will take effect on April 17.
Speaking before the Select Board during its March 28 meeting, Town Manager Kristi Williams said town officials have been meeting with local businesses about the new bylaw.
As of April 17, thin-film single-use plastic bags will not be distributed, used or sold for checkout or other purposes at any retail store or grocery store within the town. Additionally, if a store provides or sells checkout bags to customers, they must be either recyclable paper bags or reusable bags.
However, thin-film plastic bags that are used to contain items like dry cleaning, newspapers, produce, meat, bulk foods and wet items are still permissible.
Grocery or retail stores must use biodegradable material for their dine-out services – such as takeout containers, utensils and sauce containers – when such an alternative exists.
Local businesses may apply for an exemption of up to six months with the Select Board should the bylaw cause undue financial hardship, or the business needs additional time to use its current inventory.
The board or its designee will be responsible for enforcement of the new bylaw.
This announcement comes following a pair of votes at Town Meeting last year.
Last fall, Town Meeting approved an article that restricted the use of single-use plastics by retailers and restaurants. The article was originally petitioned by Zero Waste Westborough for the spring 2022 Town Meeting. Voters decided to refer the article back to the Board of Health, which then brought this language to Town Meeting in the fall.
In the 2022 Annual Town Meeting, voters did approve a series of changes to the existing Plastic Bag Reduction bylaw. Among the changes, bags were required to be either reusable or made from recyclable paper. However, last summer then-Attorney General Maura Healey struck down a provision that would have mandated a fee for bags.
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