Plastic bag ban begins in Seekonk

Twitter: @BComakABC6

SEEKONK, Mass. (WLNE) – As of New Year’s Day, the town of Seekonk is the latest in a long line of Massachusetts cities and towns to completely ban single use plastic bags from retail stores.

“I did notice that there wasn’t plastic and I was fine with that,” said shopper Susan Lehman Wednesday night.

The goal in banning them is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect our oceans and waterways.

“We’re not putting plastic into the ocean or the landfill, that takes maybe decades to decompose,” said shopper Marsha Natalizia.

Shoppers outside of T.J. Maxx New Year’s Day told ABC 6 it was definitely a change they noticed.

“All of the sudden I said, ‘Oh! Okay. They’re doing paper now,” said Natalizia.

Some shoppers, however, saw a downside to the paper bags.

“Paper bags you can’t really reuse them,” said shopper Tanya Gravel. “At least the plastic ones you can.”

But most told ABC 6, it’s easy being green.

“The paper bags are wonderful! They are eco-friendly, they have a good strong handle,” said shopper Carol Slonka.

Natalizia, however, said that the paper bags still mean trees are being cut down to make them, and she thinks the best idea is for people to bring a reusable bag to the store.

“The best solution is to reuse, reuse, reuse.”

Seekonk joins about a dozen other Massachusetts communities whose bans also went into effect today.

Still the majority of the state’s communities do not have a ban.

© WLNE-TV 2020