Freeport should ban the use of carry-out plastic bags at all businesses, the town’s Recycling & Solid Waste Committee urges in a report that has been nearly a year in the making.

Sandy Thompson, senior member of the committee, said last week that the recommendation is in line with efforts to curtail the use of plastic bags in coastal communities throughout New England. The committee’s suggestion, based on a 14-page report finalized on July 6, also closely resembles the original proposal made last year by Meredith Broderick and Elly Bengtsson, who at the time were seniors at Freeport High School. The Recycling & Solid Waste Committee recommendation goes one step further than a Portland ordinance that imposes a fee on the use of carry-out plastic bags, and carries no restrictions on the use of paper.

“We’re recommending a ban on plastic carry-outs, and that includes any retail store that would give a plastic bag to carry a purchase out,” Thompson said. “I think we have a really solid, scientific-based report.”

Town Councilor Sarah Tracy, chairwoman of the Ordinance Committee, a Town Council subcommittee, said that the committee will meet on Thursday, July 16, at 5:30 p.m., to discuss the Recycling & Solid Waste Committee report. The full council had requested the report, based on the environmental and economic impact of a ban or fee on plastic and/or paper bags.

Tracy said that, as yet, the Ordinance Committee has no leaning on the Recycling & Solid Waste Committee recommendation. The Ordinance Committee could suggest handing the matter over to the Town Council, or might propose a town-wide referendum on the matter, she said.

Thompson said that the four Recycling & Solid Waste Committee members worked on the final report, which she edited and finalized. Thompson then submitted the report to Town Manager Peter Joseph; Keith McBride, executive director of the Freeport Economic Development Corp.; and members of the Town Council and the Ordinance Committee. The recycling committee had developed a working draft in early June.

“They wanted information on what other New England coastal communities had done with plastic fees and bans,” Thompson said. “All except Portland adopted a ban on plastic and no fee on paper.”

Portland’s ordinance would be a “secondary option,” Thompson said.

“We believe that a ban on plastic is best,” said Thompson, who once did data analysis and assessments for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. “It is mainly because of the significant impact that plastics have on the marine environment. It’s a fossil-based, non-renewable, non-biodegradable material. It adds carbon dioxide to the environment, which is bad.

“Paper comes from wood, which is in the current carbon cycle,” she said. “Paper is much better than plastic. There is much less environmental impact in the manufacturing of paper. If you want to increase reusable bag use, maybe you need a fee on paper. But let’s just get rid of plastic.”

Thompson said that the Recycling & Solid Waste Committee was able to use much of Broderick’s and Bengtsson’s findings in finalizing its report to the Ordinance Committee. The two students appeared before the Freeport Town Council last July 1, asking the council to consider their draft proposal to ban the sale of disposable plastic bags in town. The Town Council voted to send the plan to the Ordinance Committee for review.

Broderick and Bengtsson had suggested a new ordinance that would require businesses to replace the disposable plastic bags at supermarkets and convenience stores with more environmentally friendly containers. They were open to suggestions, Broderick said at the time.

Bengtsson and Broderick are both at home for summer vacation, and will attend Town Council meetings that address the plastic bags ban. Bengtsson said last week that she and Broderick are grateful for the work of the Recycling & Solid Waste Committee.

“It’s pretty much the same proposal that we created,” Bengtsson said. “They added a backup plan in case the (Ordinance) Committee doesn’t want a total ban on plastic bags. That was a really good move on their part, so it doesn’t fall through entirely.”

Bengtsson spent the past school year at Holderness School in New Hampshire, prepping for her upcoming freshman year at Bates College. She is working this summer in South Freeport as a deck hand on the Lilly B, a ferry boat. Broderick, who just completed her freshman year at Elon University in South Carolina, has a summer job at Kamasouptra, located at the Freeport Market House.

“We’ll both attend the meetings,” Bengtsson said. “We’re in close touch. We’re going on a hiking trip together.”