Concord, Massachusetts, a suburban town in the metropolitan Boston area, in the latest in a series of many communities to take up the issue of plastic bag bans. Under consideration will be regulations limiting the use of single use plastic bags, restaurant take-out cups and containers, and PET water and drink bottles.

Earlier this year,  the small village of Manchester by the Sea, on the northern coast of the a state, approved a ban on retail single-use plastic bags. The regulation is currently under review by the state’s attorney general and if it is approved, will be official for July 1 of this year. Enforcement of the ban, which has stiff penalties for non-compliance, will fall to the local police department.

Brookline, another Boston suburb, last year banned plastic bag use in retail stores bigger than 2,500 square feet.

In Concord, businesses and residents currently recycle close to fifty percent of the waste stream, and local schools and government buildings have switched from selling bottled water to installing water fountains and re-usable water bottle filling stations to promote less waste.

WasteCare Wants you to Remember: As more and more communities seek alternatives to waste disposal, as a business owner of manager, it pays to always be thinking of ways to reduce your waste stream and boost recycling. Investigating recycling opportunities and environmentally friendly options for packaging may be easier and less expensive than you think!