Two Southborough teen submitted a Citizen’s Petition Article seeking to ban non-reusable plastic bags (with some exceptions).
At a presentation last month, Select Board members applauded their efforts. But they encouraged the girls to go back to the drawing board. As written, the Article is vague and lacks penalties or enforcement mechanisms for violating the bylaw.
Residents Ali Feingold and Lily Roy presented their Article to the Select Board on March 17th. After confirming they were under 18, the teens were informed that they wouldn’t be able to make a motion to support their own Article. Plus would need special permission from the hall to speak.
But finding someone to make a motion on their behalf and getting the hall’s permission should be fairly simple. Based on the reaction from both the Select Board, and now the Advisory Committee, the real potential obstacle to their success is the Article itself.
Their proposed bylaw simply states:
To see if the Town of Southborough will vote to accept a General By-law to ban the use of nonreusable plastic checkout bags in certain categories and situations beginning January 1st, 2027; this acceptance includes a common retail bag with or without die-cut handles. It does not include bio-degradable bags, re-useable bags, small item bags (i.e. meat and poultry bags, newspaper, thin film bags for raw fish, meat poultry, etc) as expressed in “Appendix A252- I; General Laws”
; or do or act anything in relation thereto.
Select Board member Kathy Cook was enthusiastic about the sponsors’ goals. She told them that she would like to see their effort succeed. But she believed they need to pursue a different approach.
Board members encouraged the teens to reach out to the Board of Health to discuss potential regulations for how a ban could be enforced. That might not even require passing a bylaw. But if they do pursue another bylaw, it would help to be in step with and supported by a Town committee.
Today, the Advisory Committee issued its report to Town Meeting. (I will be posting about that later today. In the meantime, you can read it here.) Their committee unanimously opposed the Article as written. The report explains:
Advisory supports environmental sustainability initiatives and applauds the effort and civic engagement of the (not yet voting age) proponents but we had the following concerns:
- Enforceability —no specific enforcement mechanism, penalties, or responsible authority
- Scope is vague: “certain categories and situations” is not defined.
- Business readiness: unclear whether local businesses are aware or could comply by 2027.
- Effectiveness: without detail, unclear whether it achieves environmental goals.
- Introductory language appears to be advisory only, not a fully drafted bylaw, so could not be implemented as written
This is the second time residents sought to use a Citizen’s Petition Article to ban problematic plastics.
In December 2019, an Article was added to the Annual Town Meeting Warrant for 2020, asking to ban plastic straws and other plastics, including thin one-time use plastic shopping bags. The Article was proposed by the father of a young girl who was concerned about the impact of plastic straws in the ocean. That Article was much longer and fairly detailed. It included specific definitions, fines, and specified that establishments with outstanding violations would be prohibited from getting license renewals. It also called for the Select Board or a designee to work out the details for a “monitoring process”. But Town Meeting never discussed it.
During the pandemic in the spring of 2020, officials sought to only address urgent/necessary Articles at the outdoor Town Meeting meeting. The plastic ban was one of many Articles postponed to a future Town Meeting. When the opportunity finally rolled around through the 2021 Annual Town Meeting in late May, word came out that the sponsor would be asking for the Article to be indefinitely postponed. (You can read that version under Article 38, here.)
You can find the full Warrant for the 2026 Annual Town Meeting here. Reminder, the meeting opens this Saturday, April 11th, 10:00 am at Trottier Middle School. You can find more of my coverage here.
Updated (4/10/26 12:58 pm): After Advisory sent me a more updated, final version of their report, I updated the link.
