image description
Town officials and representatives from the supermarket industry held a press conference about the ban on Tuesday.

Great Barrington Counting Down Until Plastic Bag Ban

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story
The ban on plastic shopping bags in Great Barrington starts on March 1.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — As of March 1, supermarkets here will no longer bag groceries in those thin, plastic bags.

The town is the first in Berkshire County and just the fourth in the state to implement a ban on the ubiquitous bags.

The goal is to become more environmentally friendly and stores and town officials are asking shoppers to bring their own canvas bags when shopping.

"The town is really encouraging the use of reusable bags versus paper bags. We hope to reduce pollution to the land and the environment, reduce clogging of storm drainage systems and reduce the use of crude oil in manufacturing plastic bags," Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon at Town Hall.

Voters approved the ban last May and the town has been working with grocers and other stores to smoothly implement it. On March 1, any company still using plastic bags could be fined at $50 per day, $100 a day for a second violation and $200 per day for any future violations.

"I don't think they're going to be missed," said Selectman Andrew Blechman, recalling that some 15 years ago, the single-use bags weren't in any stores.

The ban may be new to Berkshire County but it isn't new to the world and town officials listed many countries and towns that have implemented similar bans. It was actually Manchester-by-the-Sea's bylaw the town adopted.

The restriction isn't on all plastic bags; it is on only those with a thickness of 2.5 millimeters or less. While the town sees it as a step for the environment, officials don't want shoppers to simply switch to paper.


"I think in the long run we really all win, if we can people to use reusable bags — if they go to paper we don't win as much," Selectmen Chairman Sean Stanton said.

Stanton said he heard very little resistance to the law, including from the major businesses that will be affected by the bylaw. The town officials were joined Tuesday by representatives from D'Amours Big Y, Price Chopper, Guidos and the Berkshire Co-op markets, who all voiced support for the move.

Berkshire Co-op manager Art Ames said the store began to charge 10 cents for paper bags in 2008 and donated the money to charity. In just doing that, he said, bag usage has gone down 70 percent despite the customer service base growing.

"It may be inconvenient at first but we all know it is the right thing," Ames said.

Mona Golub, vice president of public relations and consumer services for Price Chopper, said the only way to implement such a ban is to have town officials, shoppers and the supermarkets collaborating together to roll it out. Now they need to raise awareness of the change so shoppers know what to expect.

"It's really been an honor for us to be at the table," she said.

Health Agent Mark Pruhenski has already begun raising awareness with a series of outreach sessions, an email blast and website updates, a high school class crafted signage and stickers and a volunteer has gone door to door among the businesses to inform them about the law.


Tags: ban,   bylaws,   plastics,   shopping,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

View Full Story

More Great Barrington Stories