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Weston Fourth Graders Propose Plastic Bag Ban

The two students presented in front of the Board of Selectmen last week.

Will Weston join neighboring Westport in banning plastic bags in town?

Two of Weston's fourth graders hope the town does.

Colleen Moore and Julia Morledge made their case to the Board of Selectmen last week. The girls said that Americans throw away one billion plastic bags each year, and few get recycled.

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"We plan to propose to [Jim] Magee, the owner of Peter's Weston Market, the idea of using cloth bags which are reusable so he wouldn’t have to keep ordering them after the initial demand," Moore said.

The girls circulated a petition around town and have gotten 150 signatures, they said.

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While it might be more expensive for business owners to offer reusable bags or paper bags instead of plastic bags, banning plastic bags "could make a drastic difference in the environment," Morledge said. 

The selectmen thanked the girls for their presentation.

Selectman David Muller advised the girls that laws need to be passed fairly, so it would be prudent to get their thoughts of other business owners in Weston Center as well. 

Don Saltzman said the girls were a "great example of what our Board of Education does with our little ones." The school boards "brings them up to think, which is a very, very important thing."

Saltzman cautioned, however, that reusable bags have been shown to carry bacteria, which in some cases can be deadly. 

First Selectman Gayle Weinstein said she will arrange a conversation between the girls, business owners and the sustainability committee to see if some sort of compromise could be reached. 

The girls' PowerPoint presentation can be seen here.


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