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By KARA O'CONNOR

Villager Staff Writer


WILTON -- Paper or plastic may no longer be an option for Wilton shoppers.

At Monday night's Board of Selectman meeting, the Westport Representative Town Meeting (RTM) gave a presentation on a new plastic bag ordinance recently initiated in that neighboring town. A plastic bag ordinance has been something that Wilton has been interested in for some time, said First Selectman Bill Brennan .

"This plastic bag ordinance is a great idea," he said. "Wilton has been interested in moving in this direction for some time, and it's wonderful to get the perspective of a town (which) already has this ordinance in place."

Jonathan Cunitz, a Westport RTM member who helped enact the town's plastic bag ordinance, said it only allows the use of paper or reusable checkout bags and bans the use of plastic bags for retail use.

"The idea behind this ordinance is to improve the environment in Westport," he said. "The concept is simple: If shoppers change their habits and start bringing reusable bags to stores, then everyone's happy."

According to Cunitz, only 1 to 5 percent of the plastic bags produced are ever recovered, and 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide every year.

"The problem with plastic bags is that they last forever once they get into the environment," he said. "They can blow into our streams, stay on the roads, go on our beaches and create an environmental problem for generations to come."

Since the Westport ordinance was enacted on Sept. 2, 2008, there has not been any problems with the ban of plastic bags, said Cunitz. In the ordinance's first year, he estimated Westport eliminated the use of more than 1 million plastic bags, and that number will continue to increase in future years.

"We have had overwhelming support to eliminate plastic bags from everyone in town," said Cunitz. "Stores have even been giving away free reusable bags to encourage their customers to use them."

Brennan said he thinks Wilton residents would be open to enacting a plastic bag ordinance in town.

"I know that a lot of residents in Wilton have already given up using plastic bags," he said. "Since many people aren't using them anymore, I think there will be support to get rid of plastic bags in Wilton."

Selectman Richard Creeth said a plastic bag ban in Wilton is an excellent idea.

"This seems like a no brainer to me," he said. "This is a good thing to do and it's one small, easy step to take for sustainable living."

Within the next six months, Brennan said, discussion on a possible plastic bag ordinance be will put on the selectmen's agenda.

"We are obviously very excited about this," he said. "Our job is to do things that make sense, and this makes sense."

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