DENNIS – A proposed bylaw that would ban the purchase and sale of drinks in single-used plastic bottles on town property in Dennis will again go before voters at Special Town Meeting in October.
The board of selectmen voted unanimously last week to include the article on the warrant and to recommend its passage to voters.
Unlike the similar bylaw that failed in the spring, this was proposed by the town’s Solid Waste and Recycling Committee.
“A bulk of the people in the Solid Waste and Recycling Committee felt we didn’t have enough time to look at that,” said Joshua Brimdyr, the chair of the committee.
“I believe there were many other town departments who also reflected there wasn’t enough time to look at that and make sure that we had things dotted and crossed and really thought this through.”
The committee reached out to other departments in the town that would be impacted by a possible ban.
Committee member Allyson Schmidt says the Beach Committee, Recreation Committee, and Little League were in favor of the ban.
The Golf Committee did not respond.
“I figured no reply also meant they weren’t really concerned,” Schmidt said.
The bylaw would ban polyethylene, PET-based, products and PLA, polylactic acid, products.
Polyethylene products are standard plastic bottles.
Brimdyr said PLA is another bad-plastic. It is a corn-based product, but needs to be recycled industrially.
“Corn-based plastic requires heating of over 140 degrees to break down,” Brimdyr said.
“The beaches don’t get to 140 degrees currently, so that would just essentially turn the corn-based PLA into another plastic that would contaminate the water.”
The bylaw would exempt the School Department for a year to give them more time to adjust to the change.
Large five-gallon plastic bottles used in offices would not be included, and the fire and police departments would be exempt.
“This does not have anything to do with plastic [beverages] being sold in stores,” Brimdyr said.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with somebody showing up… with truckload of plastic bottles, going to West Dennis Beach, having a party and leaving with them.”
Brimdyr said the goal of the bylaw was to ban the bottles on town property without creating a new problem.
“Whatever replaces those plastic bottles, or those plastic containers must be able to be recyclable at the Town of Dennis Transfer Station,” Brimdyr said. “What we don’t want to do is create another situation.”
Boxed water, for example would not be allowed because it contains plastic lining, aluminum and wax paper. The product typically needs to be recycled at the industrial level.
A list of acceptable replacements would be developed by the Department of Public Works prior to the implementation of the ban.
If approved October 29, the bylaw would take effect January 1, 2021.
Harwich, Chatham, Orleans, Wellfleet and Provincetown have passed similar bans.
Fall town meeting voters in Falmouth, Sandwich, Yarmouth and Brewster will consider similar bans this fall.
The proposed ban was developed before town meetings in the spring with hopes of having them instituted across all 15 Cape Cod communities.
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