New Westborough Bag Fee Starts Soon, Town Reminds

Westborough MA

18 May, 2022

9:36 AM

Description

WESTBOROUGH, MA — This is your one-month warning: free shopping bags in Westborough will soon be a thing of the past. The town is reminding residents about a recent change to the plastic bag reduction law. In March, Town Meeting approved a measure instituting a 10-cent fee on all single-use shopping bags, including paper bags. The per-bag fee will not go to the town; retail and grocery stores will get to keep the money. That same measure also redefined what "reusable checkout bag" means in Westborough. Under the current law, reusable bags can be made out of a variety of materials, including durable plastic like polyester. But starting June 20, reusable bags will have to be made of either 100 percent recycled material, or be biodegradable. "In summary, beginning on June 20, all grocery and retail stores offering checkout bags to customers will need to charge at least 10 cents for them, and those bags must be either recyclable paper bags or reusable bags made from 100% post-consumer material or that are biodegradable," the town said this week. Many communities in Massachusetts are moving away from allowing retailers to give out free bags — and some retailers have even started to charge for single-use paper bags. More than 100 cities and towns across the state have banned single-use plastic bags in some form, according to the Mass Green Network. Westborough was one of the first communities in Worcester County to ban plastic bags when Town Meeting made the move in 2018. For residents who have questions about the new changes, the town will hold an information session on May 25 at 5 p.m. at the Forbes Municipal Building.