Maine Town Council Mulls 14-Year Old’s Proposal to Ban Plastic Bags
- Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:00pm by
Becket Adams
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Town councilors in Windham, ME, are considering 14-year Sierra Yost’s proposal to ban all plastic shopping bags and charge 10 cents for paper bags.
“Inspired by a science class project on plastics, Sierra presented a proposal to the Windham Town Council on Tuesday to ban plastic bags and charge 10 cents for non-recyclable paper bags at the checkout counters of stores larger than 2,500 square feet,” the Kennebec Journal reports.
The town staff is writing up a draft of her proposal to present to the town council next week.
“They were really impressed with all the information I found,” Yost said.
Some of the council members are onboard with the proposal.
“There’s a lot of interest in it between the councilors. I don‘t think it’s a bad idea,” Councilor Tom Gleason said.
Should the council adopt Yost’s proposal, Windham would be joining the ranks of a few other towns and cities in the U.S. that have passed similar anti-shopping bag laws.
“We would be the first town in Maine to put such an ordinance in place. Other towns would soon follow our lead — we would start a chain reaction,” Yost told the council during her presentation.
“Windham residents‘ new mantra would be ’Must remember reusable bags.’ With the average person using four to five bags per shopping trip, it would only cost 50 cents to buy paper bags — not enough to motivate people to shop in other towns, but just enough to kick the habit,” she added.
Although there’s already a statewide campaign in place for reducing the use of shopping bags, Yost doesn’t believe the effort to get people to cut back voluntarily has been effective.
“We have to go a step farther,” she said.
What’s slightly ironic about the proposal is that, according to the Kennebec Journal, Yost got the idea from a school project about the benefits of plastics.
“[S]he said it was what she learned about the negative impact that struck her most,” the Kennebec Journal’s Leslie Bridgers writes, “She said she learned that plastics break down into smaller pieces that can end up in the ocean and get eaten by animals, and also by humans.”
“That was a really scary thought,” Sierra said.
So the industrious 8th grader sprung into action. She started by calling stores in her town to ask them to stop giving customers plastic bags.
“They all said it was a corporate thing,” she said.
So she took the next step: she decided she would give the town council a presentation on the benefits of a bag ban/tax.
Her proposal, one that would affect stores with more than 2,500 square feet of retail space, “would completely ban the use of single-use plastic bags. Stores would be able to offer paper bags to customers for a 10-cent tax — 1 cent of which would be kept by the retailer — per bag,” according to The Independent.
While researching her presentation, Yost discovered similar bans passed in other cities and countries.
“In each case she presented, the imposition of a ban or tax on disposable shopping bags resulted in widespread adoption of reusable grocery bags within weeks,” The Independent reports.
“Yost said she estimated that, if her program resulted in 70 percent of shoppers using reusable bags, the tax on paper bags would bring the town about $90,000 in additional annual revenue,” the report adds.
And she gathered more data.
“The week before her presentation to the council, she was still collecting information. She put out a survey to Windham Middle School parents asking where they shop and what type of bags they use,” the report claims.
“More than half of the 60 people who responded said they use reusable bags — a figure that didn‘t match the statistic she got from the local Shaw’s supermarket, which indicated that 85 percent of customers use plastic,” the report adds.
She included all the above in a fact sheet she gave to councilors during her presentation, which she said “went really well,” according to Bridgers.
The Windham town council is meeting next week to discuss the ban.



















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Comments (105)
crazyrightwingmom
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:54amSo sad that she thinks she is doing something important…..
WeekendAtBernankes
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 1:14amWell we ARE talking about the state that thinks Susan Collins is electable as a Republican.
Report Post »watchmany2k
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 4:50amWell, do think it’s good for a child to learn how government works and how ordinances and laws are passed. I use the plastic bags to line my smaller trash cans around the house it would be a drag to have them gone. I find it laughable that far inland they still claim the bags end up in the ocean.
Maine is starting to turn around, GOP governor, GOP majority in the legislature, if we can keep it that way we can turn the state around, they even LOWERED the state tax rate, there is hope !
Shameless website plug:
Report Post »http://www.watchman2012.com ~All things Energy & Survival -video & articles
mauijonny
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 5:04amSorry, guys – Maui banned plastic bags last year and it HAS made a diff. We see a LOT fewer bags flying around and almost none in the ocean any more. What’s wrong with that? Plus, reusable bags are great opportunities for entrepreneurial spirits.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 6:03amAnd… ‘a child shall lead them’,,, because they are so Stupid!
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 8:22amSo it’s really not her idea, just one based on other cities. If I lived in Windham, ME, I would have to put all my dirty cat litter on her front porch since I wouldn’t have any plastic bags in which to throw it away. Also, does this go for department stores, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.
Report Post »Many years ago, when Trex was first coming on the market, we were asked to be distributors. Trex is made out of plastic shopping bags so it’s not like they go to waste. Recycle the bags.
Deb C
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 9:42amPlastic bags DO have a place in our society ! Do you REALLY want to use cloth Depends/Tenas for adults ?
Report Post »Handicamper
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 11:36amWho wins, follow the money. Town coffers and those who administrates the proposed change. There is a $ for green and inconvience for eliminateing an article of use so widely accepted, that by the way has many, other uses after its initial use. Difficult I would say to find other items of such universal use. Or, just maybe there’s a batt operated auto in our futures.
Report Post »kaydeebeau
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:58pmMore sad that this was her school science project which tells me her science class is “junk global warming crap science” and yet we still wonder why our precious little darlings can’t compete in the world where science is actually still taught
Report Post »tiefel
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:50amWell soon toilet paper will be banned and we’ll have to use three shells.
Report Post »WeekendAtBernankes
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 1:12amHe doesn’t know how to use the three sea shells.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mFuB0gsNAA&feature=youtu.be&t=50s
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 1:51amI remember when you could have COLORED toilet paper… then came the EPA.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 3:08amWe could go back to recycled corn cobs, you know the red and white ones. Having made one’s daily deposit, simply take a red cob and clean the ‘business’ end. Then, repeat with a white cob–to see if you might need another red cob to improve things a bit! One might introce her to my favorite U.S. Patent, the 6-day underwear! It’s a 3-holer–you put your legs through two holes and then rotate by one hole each day for three days! To get ‘extended range’, simply flip inside out and, presto, you get another three days!
Report Post »neillwd
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:37pmWikipedia strikes again.
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:33pmWhat a fantastic idea. Now lets start thinking about being a sanctuary city, gay marriage, welcoming Planned Parenthood, and appoint the 14 year old as mayor for life. We can become sister cities to one in North Korea seeing we are on the same plain as them in our regulatory societal ways. Next, get rid of the rest of the council cause the mayor for life is enough and will better streamline decisions, actions, and ordinances. We will all paint our houses the same color and all drive Chevy Volts. Heck, we have to make sure there are no smokers or meat eaters and raise every tax we can. Then we can tax all kinds of other stuff so we can build up large amounts of money so we can support the entire cities residents with free healthcare, housing, food, cell phones, and employment if necessary. Then will begin to decide who really contributes and who doesn’t so we can get rid of the slackers and elderly. We’ll put up toll booths at all the intersections and employ a bunch of police officers to enforce every ordinance and tax. The police can wear nice brown shirts until we can gravitate to the black uniforms. We will build re-education camps in order to keep people involved in their city. Now, for 1934 we will……………….
Report Post »Skrewedretiree
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:42pmWell, kudos! Here is another one who figured out the similarity between January, 1933 and November, 2008!
Report Post »Skrewedretiree
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:32pmSeems 14 year olds are gettin news from Bainbridge Island, Washington. This law just passed there.
We went to plastic bags to save the trees. Now they want to get rid of plastic bags to save the environment.
Well….How’s this: We re-elect Obama and then all we will be able to afford to buy we can put in our pocket…..were the money used to be.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:22pmThis 14 year old progressive suggests a ten cent tax and the store only keeps one cent? The stores will not like this; those bags cost three cents 3yrs ago. If the town wants the businesses on board…. a 50/50 split might work………………ahhhhhhh but it is gov’t what am i talking about. if this goes through the town will take the whole ten cents.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:12pmI bet this little Einstein is the same type that would NOT throw her trash in a trash can, but drop it on the ground. Yet she wants to be green by not using plastic bags.
Report Post »nzkiwi
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 2:38am@Cofemale
Don’t be too hard on her, she’s only 14. People of this age are fully convinced of the veracity of the last opinion that they hear.
It is also true that young people who aren’t at least a little left wing are lacking a little soul, and adults who remain left wing are lacking a little common sense. (That’s not my line, but I can’t remember who said it.)
If one wishes to reproach the true idiots here, I suggest looking towards the council.
This was tried in NZ. It failed quickly, predictably enough.
Report Post »dirtydog1776
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:12pmI cried because I had no plastic bags, but then I saw a man from San Francisco who had no plastic bags and no McDonald’s Happy meals( but he had his foreskin).
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:16pmI didn’t quite get the foreskin part.
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:21pmAwesome, I can’t stop laughing on that one. Thanks for making my night.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:23pmBLACKYB
at least he has SOMETHING to be happy about…………….
Report Post »HPC172ERTAV
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:27amForeskin = smagma = this little mush headed product of the National teachers federation and the annenburg project.
It’s nothing but a tax and will only accomplish the spread of Salmonella, typhoid, e coli, sickness and death among the very young and the old. But since this IS the ultimate goal of the enviro whackos this would be a GOOD thing, an accomplishment under cover.
These morons want us to go backwards.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:12pmJust ban the 14 year olds from using any type of plastic and see how that works. OOOps there goes your X-box, their computers, I-Pids, and you will not need any plastic bags because you will not have anything to put in them, (again….OOOps you shouldda thought that through.) Anyway, shouldn’t people be disposing of plastic bags in such a way they do not get into waters? Ban them from boats and such where people would be tempted to throw them in water. Recycle them. Keep the laws about liter on land, sea and water.
Report Post »dirtydog1776
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:10pmAnother law full of special privileges, exceptions and faulty economics. Obama, I found another voter for you in 2012, don’t let her age scare you. No ID is required to vote.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:17pmThat is right, dirtydog. Lol.
Report Post »so3
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:07pmIt’s further, not farther. We are talking degrees here, not distances.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:09pmAnd who appointed you the grammar policeman?
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:25pmTan’t neigher one, just use some other word you make up.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:28pmAre you the typing Pooolice too? I can’t hit the right key, and when I do, I can’t spell worth a dam(n?)
Report Post »Have you got some kind of rehab school fer us?
blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:37pmThat sounds like someone from England? My almost friend, Debbie, or just someone who wants us to be perfect like he/she is. It has got to be a woman because most men would not give a flying flip, and just try figuring it out. I guess I am sorta mean, but just don’t let it bother you. You’re both fine people, I am sure. Just kidding on my part. Lol (does Lol count?)
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:06pmWell I just found my black market business. I will save all my Walmart/Safeway plastic bags and sell them for 5 cents per bag to those in that town.
So she is going to kill tree’s instead. Yep that makes sense.
I want to know how you can ban someone from using something? That’s sounds a little unconstitutional to me.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:39pmNo, maybe she has lots of little friends with lots of little hands, and lots of little pockets.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:40pmI want in.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:59pmAre you being racist? Why not a White market business? (again, Lol.)
Report Post »ADNIL
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 7:16amcofemale – YES! Let’s kill more trees. It creates JOBS called wood harvesting, and reforestation. We do this in Maine. The forests are renewable and wood becomes harvestable in a relativly short time compared to growing dinosaurs and then burying them to make oil (lol, which I don’t beilieve that is how it happens, anyway) But, I would miss those little plastic bags that I recyle in so many ways. I would just have to buy something to replace them…….(sigh)
Report Post »smcdaniel
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:03pmSo we went to plastic because the paper bags were killing all the trees. Now the enviro whackos are scolding us for using plastic and want to tax the paper bags.
Report Post »Just like we had to give up styrofoam because it “doesn’t bio-degrade”. Hey numb-skull: Rocks don’t bio degrade either but they sure erode.
Get bent and keep your government out of my shopping cart!
just looking
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:59pmA study was done in Canada that claimed that lost plastic fish nets resulted in aquatic deaths. The environmentalists picked up the story and changed it to plastic grocery bags. This is old news.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336189,00.html
Report Post »Chuckkel
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:33pmPlease, let’s stop listening to children!
Just copying from the Left Coast where they have no bags at all.
Start making these kids start carrying in the grocery from the car to the home and they will change their minds.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:08pmWhat happened to children should be seen and not heard. Can we just go back to the 50′s when men were men and women were women.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:15pmThe very young children are what is left to go to meetings when you eliminate the drunks, dope addicts and people out on the OWS who are not working. The others are working at least l or 3, even three jobs to have some kind of basically livable income so we can support those not working. They do not have time to go to council meetings. So I guess the young are leading the older ones. It is a sign of the times mentioned in the Bible too. Strange times we live in.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:24pmWell, there won’t be any babies or old people they are going to ban those too. Don’t Demon crats get old or have babies? Oh, I forgot they are made up of a lot of gays who do not procreate or many get diseases and die young. Oh, well. We will have to think of something. We are just messing up their lives something fierce.
Report Post »Then there are the farmers who may not plant, fishermen who may not fish, producers of industry who may not produce, Law Enforcement who may not enforce, teachers who may not teach, people who may not smak azzes of children who throw plastic in the streets, waterways or destroy classrooms. It just seams to me that something is not right. Plastic bags will not be needed if there are no groceries to put them in. Is that where we are going?
blackyb
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:11amGreat Idea, but good luck with that.
Report Post »Mastermagi
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 8:27amI want to know where this little fascist’s parents are. If my 11 year old son were to approach me with an idea this ridiculous I sit him down and explain the facts. Facts, not fuzzy, feel-good garbage.
Report Post »thegodfather
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:32pmHey, don’t stop there……..all those disposable diapers are made out of plastic too. And they have crap in them. Ban diapers too. Tell parents go back to cloth diapers…and washing them with the rest of their clothes.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:36pmMy wife did that.
Report Post »Looking back we saved a lot of money.
HornsFan96
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:00pmGood for you, Marine. But there is a difference between your choice to use cloth diapers, and forcing others to give up disposables.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:15pm@ HORNFAN96
I agree with 100%
Report Post »marine249
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:20pmadd a you
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:52pmUmmmm, don’t think so, homey. Don’t like dodo around me or my clothes. Housetrain that baby, early. Go, baby, go. Go to the outhouse, Obama won’t give us No (any for GP) water.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:06amYes! I used cloth .. get off your butts and wash some diapers .. they are a MUCH bigger problem that those thin little plastic bags … Why do they never go after th pampers?
Report Post »marine249
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 1:39am@CATB
They put on the pampers and they don’t leak like
Report Post »the cloth ones. This way the kid can s and p no,
go potty all day in them.
Mastermagi
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 8:33am@Godfather
Where I live there are at least two charities devoted solely to collecting disposable diapers or the money with which to buy them for – get this – moms who can’t afford to buy diapers. The pitch is that these poor moms can’t buy new diapers, so the babies are forced to wallow in their own filth. The diapers only get changed once a day.
I have actually told someone asking for my money to support one of these projects that she was contributing to the child abuse and negligence of the infant and, if she was truly concerned for the baby, she would advocate the removal of the kid from that parent. If the mother is too lazy and worthless to use cloth diapers for a baby, what in the world is she going to do for/to that child when the child is older? The woman looked at me as though I had horns yet, in 20 years when the kid is on drugs or in jail, will this same woman accept any blame?
Report Post »Doctor Nordo
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:23pmWhile I do consider it to be very draconian, I have to admit that I am sympathetic to the idea. Nothing ****** me off more than when I go to the store and see someone use double plastic bags for something they can easily carry in one hand.
I always load my plastic bags to the absolute maximum capacity and carry by hand (no bag) everything if I’m not buying much and can manage the load.
Report Post »lynn4
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:40pmpeople intentionally double bag because they use them doubled so their garbage won’t leak. They are thinking of themselves…not the earth.
Report Post »HornsFan96
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:02pmGood for you. I have two children. If I take them to the store, they will be holding my hands when we leave. Therefore, I use a plastic bag. You really, seriously would look down on a person for using a plastic bag? How draconian has our society become?? Yet people shack up, get knocked up out of wedlock, drive drunk … the list goes on and on, with little shame or anger directed at their actions. And you reserve anger for me carrying a plastic bag. Wow.
Report Post »booger71
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:28pmI use double bags because they break easily, and yes i think of my myself and the broken jelly if I don’t
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:57pmI carry the groceries God give me and he takes care of the people and the earth. He knows how to do the most awsome things to cleanse the environment. Plastic does not get in his way. We should not liter our earth or waterways for the health of animals and human, but that are what laws are for. I thank God for the earth, the groceries, and the plastic things of this earth.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:23pmOff topic but I know you’ve all heard about the murder in the parking lot of Northwoods Pediactric center. Mother was shot multiple times and her 3 month old baby was snatched. Mother was white and killer/kidnappers were black. Get the story on the lineup, blaze.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:33pmBlack mail?
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:08amWe won’t hear anything about that .. doesn’t fit the agenda … we have whites getting killed by blacks all over the country .. and no one says ANYTHING!
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 9:10amPremeditated, cold blooded murder and kidnapping. 8 hours to find the Lexus and locate the baby. Mother shot 8 times. Keep up the Trayvon chant though. It’s the marchable, riot inducing example.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:23pmkick her butt 10 cents
Report Post »THXll38
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:20pmFascists suck, but then again, its there choice.
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:18pmI drive a truck and make deliveries at night. When I buy something at the stores, I like the plastic bags as I can use them for trash when done. When they stop using bags I will just have to throw the trash out the window, and I hate to do that.
Lets let the 8th graders run the country, even though she does not have to do the shopping.
Report Post »AxelPhantom
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:24pm10 practical uses for grocery store paper and/or plastic bags
Report Post »1) Lining small garbage cans
2) “Dust” covers for school text books
3) Picking up dog doo
4) Keeping the thawing meat from leaking all over your fridge
5) Garbage bag for car
6) Lunch bags
7) Covering up small motors before winter storage
8) Berry/fruit/nut picking
9) Stuffing for decorative pillows
10) Painting walls/protecting baseboards from paint
blackyb
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:44pmI am partial to plastic bags too. They make good weapons too, if our guns have to be hidden. We can store all kinds of things in them. (No, I am not quite that far gone.)
Report Post »infidelsaplenty
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:17pmPeople who have never worked in business making laws. ‘ Sound familiar?
Report Post »Couple Hundy
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:11amThat’s what I was thinking…
How many people will lose their jobs at the plastic bag factory because of this?
Report Post »infidelsaplenty
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:14pmOh just lovely! Now we’ve got clueless idealistic grade school eco-bots deciding what we will use for bags!
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:14pmTheir town, their choice.
Report Post »Matrix22
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:11pmYou know what, you’re absolutely right. It is there choice. And it’s our choice to never live there and keep our money out of their businesses.
Report Post »booger71
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:32pmYep, and these kids learn it from public schools
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:06pmI see a future in the Politburo for this young lady.
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