Are plastic bag bans coming to the Centre Region in 2022? Ferguson Township takes first steps
Single-use plastic bag bans are gaining traction across Pennsylvania, and at least one Centre County municipality could be next to make a move to reduce plastics.
The Ferguson Township board of supervisors ended the year with intentions of adopting an ordinance in 2022 that would educate residents on single-use plastics, implement a fee on those items and eventually ban them in the township.
The board discussed a draft of a single-use plastics ordinance during its Dec. 13 meeting. The purpose of the ordinance would be to reduce use of single-use plastic carry out bags and single-use plastic straws by commercial establishments within Ferguson Township, Supervisor Pam Steckler said during the meeting. It would help curb litter on the streets, parks and trees, protect the local streams, rivers, waterways and other aquatic environments, including the ocean, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste generation, while promoting the use of reusable, compostable or recyclable materials within the township, she said.
In November, the board passed a resolution stating it will work to create an ordinance to regulate single-use plastic bags and single-use plastic straws in the businesses within the township.
The draft ordinance presented was modeled after the regulations in place in West Chester Borough in Chester County, a Philadelphia suburb, and includes six months of education to the community, followed by 12 months of a 15 cent fee per bag. The fee would go to the businesses.
Eighteen months after passage of the ordinance, commercial establishments would not be allowed to provide single-use plastic bags or straws to customers. Plastic straws may be provided to accommodate disabilities if a paper straw isn’t an option, the ordinance outlines.
A new life for plastics bans across PA
A single-use plastic bag ban is not new for Ferguson Township’s board of supervisors. In June 2019, the board was set to discuss a proposed ordinance that would impose an impact fee on consumers who use single-use plastic bags. But days before the meeting, Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation barring municipalities from implementing such fees.
The legislation prohibited municipal bans or taxes on plastic bags or packaging for one year while legislative agencies studied the economic and environmental impact. It had been introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, who said at the time he took the action because there was a plastics manufacturer in his district and a township considering a plastic bag fee.
Ferguson Township then voted to postpone work on the potential fee for single-use plastic bags.
The statewide preemption on plastic bag bans was not renewed when the state’s budget was passed this summer, paving the way for municipalities to begin to craft their own legislation. Philadelphia’s ban is now in effect and Pittsburgh also has one in the works.
For Steckler, the potential ordinance is the culmination of years of work. In an interview with the Centre Daily Times, she said she organized a petition to the township and State College borough in 2017 to incorporate a fee on single-use plastics and an eventual ban.
“Single-use plastics, such as carry bags, straws and stirrers, and Styrofoam cups and boxes, are in no way a necessity and can be easily replaced by items already available,” she said. “This makes them low hanging fruit in terms of lessening the amount of plastic in our environment which is overwhelming our oceans and negatively impacting many living organisms.”
Still, she said she’s excited to see her years of work possibly coming to fruition soon. She encourages people to use reusable bags that are made out of cotton, organic cotton or organic cotton and hemp.
“I was here for the last time and I’m here for this time. I think one thing that’s really changed is that the greater world around us has been moving along steadily while Pennsylvania has been mired in the ban on bag bans,” Supervisor Laura Dininni said during the Dec. 13 meeting. “So we’ve seen so many other communities and states even adopt regulations to reduce plastic. It’s extremely encouraging.”
In 2019, the township worked with Lara Fowler, of Penn State Law and Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and one of her classes. The class examined plastic bag management as part of a Sustainable Communities Collaborative Project.
Plastic bag fee or ban?
Though he favored the time frame extension from 90 days of education to six months, and six months of a fee per bag to a year, Supervisor Steve Miller said he didn’t favor a total ban.
“I like the idea of the extended time frame, I’m still not favoring going to a ban. I mean, I’d be fine with a 50 cent fee on the bag, that wouldn’t bother me at all,” Miller said. “…I think that a fee will work and I think that will take care of it.”
Supervisor Lisa Strickland was supportive of the timeline and other points, but raised questions about the implementation, such as who would be creating the educational materials, how it would be budgeted and who would be enforcing it. Those concerns, among others, would need to be considered before approval, township Manager David Pribulka said.
A motion was made that included making changes to the draft ordinance and to have the item on the January 2022 agenda for discussion and on February’s agenda for adoption.
Pribulka said that was an “unfeasible time frame.” He suggested the township re-engage with Sustainable Communities Collaborative and the College of Law in an updated assessment, and work in conjunction with the State College borough and Patton Township.
“I think there are a myriad of issues that are unresolved, that are unconsidered, and there are going to be a long list of consequences to pursuing a set of regulatory policies mirroring another borough without having viewed it through and filtered it through the lens, in this case, of an institution responsible for its administration,” he said. “I will proceed however the board directs me to proceed but I have some very real concerns about the way this conversation has been evolving.”
With an amendment, the board voted unanimously to reformat the draft ordinance to the Ferguson Township code and to incorporate the changes that were agreed to (mainly the timeline). Additionally, they will send a letter and the revised draft ordinance to the State College borough and Patton and College townships to see if they would be interested in doing something regionally. Instead of attaching a specific time frame to it, it states it will move “expeditiously as staff is able.”
The township will work with Fowler’s class again to get updated research and interviews within the Centre Region; Fowler said they should have information around March.
The next Ferguson township supervisors meeting is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 3 with a new board of supervisors.
Could other municipalities be next?
The State College borough also passed a resolution in November committing to regulating single-use plastics. In an interview with the Centre Daily Times, council President Jesse Barlow said the council has plans to pass an ordinance doing so, but he didn’t have concrete details on it, such as the timeline and if it would be total ban or a fee per bag.
“It’s been shown that both fees and bans are pretty effective at getting the plastic waste out of the area,” he said. “That’s really what we’re looking to do.”
Barlow said regulating single-use plastic in the borough is something he’s wanted to do almost since he was elected to the borough council. He said he would be supportive of either a total ban or fee per bag.
He said he suspects the council will have an ordinance in 2022, but didn’t have a time frame beyond that.
As for Patton Township, township Manager Doug Erickson said in an email that he thought a supervisor was preparing something to bring to the board for review, but didn’t have any additional information.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
