SAUGUS — Environmentalists are asking local officials to enforce a plastic bag ban implemented by the town just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year.
Ann Devlin, President of Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment (SAVE), said Saturday she was disappointed by the number of Saugus businesses she’s seen not adhering to the bylaw, which prohibits stores town-wide from distributing, using, or selling single-use plastic bags at checkout counters.
In effect as of March 12, 2020, the bylaw, which falls under the purview of the Board of Health, now requires business owners to use reusable totes or single-use bags made of at least 40 percent recycled material.
“It’s really disheartening that the pandemic hit when it did because it took about a year to get the article put together before Town Meeting, and then you wait another six months to have it pass the Attorney General’s office, so it didn’t go into effect until the beginning of March,” Devlin said. “It was in effect for two weeks before the pandemic hit.”
In the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic last spring, Governor Charlie Baker issued an emergency order suspending the use of reusable bags in stores, as well as suspending single-use plastic bag bans already passed in 139 cities and towns.
Although Baker’s emergency order was lifted in July, Devlin said few Saugus businesses have since complied with the town’s bylaw.
In response to Devlin’s request, Public Health Director John Fralick said that while his department is still focused on combating the COVID-19 pandemic, the bylaw will continue to be enforced once more resources are available.
“We’re working toward full compliance on the plastic bag ban. When we can devote our resources fully to the endeavor, we expect the remaining establishments that are still using plastic bags (that) do not meet the requirements of the new bylaw to comply very quickly,” Fralick said. “With COVID, it’s been difficult to focus on much else, but when we start to see positive trends in public health data, we can begin to devote resources elsewhere.”
Prior to the pandemic, Saugus’ environmentally-minded efforts were in good company. As of October 2020, 141 Massachusetts cities and towns — more than 60 percent of the state’s population — regulated single-use plastic shopping bags, according to the Sierra Club.
Businesses that fail to comply with the bylaw face fines of up to $100 per day.
While Devlin stressed she understands the gravity of the pandemic, she said she also wants to be realistic about the impact single-use plastics have on the local environment.
“I just want people to comply,” she said. “Nine months into Baker’s lifting of the (emergency order), I think it should be a point of pride for Saugus that we are one of more than 100 cities and towns that have embraced this ban.”
