Northampton's Single Use Plastic Bag Ban

Plastic Reduction & Sustainability Ordinance (1/21/2021)

The Northampton City Council has approved a new plastic reduction ordinance, which bans styrofoam and non-recyclable plastic take-out containers and instead requires prepared food to be packaged in biodegradable, recyclable, reusable or compostable containers. See a full copy of the ordinance here.

A few important components of the new ordinance:

• Food establishments are prohibited from providing prepared food to customers using polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, or other nonrecyclable disposable food service ware.
  
• Food establishments using any disposable food service ware shall use biodegradable, compostable, reusable or recyclable food service ware. 
• Retail establishments are prohibited from selling or distributing polystyrene food service ware to customers. This includes sale of polystyrene ware for home food use.
• Food establishments must provide disposable food service ware accessories only upon request by customers or at a self-serve station.
• The ordinance was approved January 21, 2021 but is not scheduled to take effect until January 1, 2022. 
• The new ordinance replaces the single-use plastic bag ban (Section 272-18, below) since it incorporates the prohibition on single-use plastic bags. 
• Hardship deferments are available if the mayor’s office finds the law would pose an undue hardship to an establishment.

History

On May 21, 2015, the Northampton City Council passed ordinance 272-18 banning the distribution of single use plastic shopping bags in the City of Northampton. The ban becomes effective on January 1, 2016. Read the full ordinance

A few important components of the ordinance:

• Northampton retail establishments may continue to dispense only compostable plastic, reusable or biodegradable shopping bags.
• Thin-film single-use plastic shopping bags are defined as bags with a thickness of 3 mils or less. Plastic bags of greater than 3 mils in thickness are considered reusable.
• Ban exemptions include: A) Specialty thin-film bags—which typically lack handles—such as those used to protect or contain dry cleaned garments, curbside newspapers, and wet or food items (e.g. produce, meat, bulk foods, bread and cheese); B) Flexible transparent covering (commonly referred to as plastic wrap); C) Thin-film single use plastic bags under 3mil in thickness purchased prior to 4/1/2015.
• Bag conformity will be incorporated into the City health inspection process.