TOPSHAM

Topsham residents will vote next week on whether to impose a fee on one-time use bags and limit the use of Styrofoam in town.

The two ordinance proposals are the result of a citizen petition drive by Bring Your Own Bag Topsham, an offshoot BYOB Midcoast — a group concerned about five large garbage patches floating in the oceans.

“These gyres are like a swirling soup of debris, much of it composed of single-use, disposable items like water bottles and plastic bags,” BYOB states on its website.

Paper bags are included in the bag fee ordinance because they take four to six times more energy to manufacture and ship than plastic, a process that emits a lot of greenhouse gases, according to BYOB Midcoast.

The Bag Fee to Reduce Waste Act & Protect the Environment Act ordinance would place a 5 cent fee on single use plastic and paper bags at check-out at all stores with greater than 2 percent food sales.

There would be a one-year grace period for low-income SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients while BYOB distributes 5,000 free, reusable bags in the community.

The Ban on Polystyrene Foam Food & Beverage Containers Act would ban polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) containers for food and beverage packaging by restaurants, stores and other establishments.

This ordinance would ban the retail sale of polystyrene foam food and beverage containers in stores. It also bans use of Styrofoam food and beverage containers at any town facility or town-sponsored event.

Exempt from the ban is the packaging of raw and live seafood. Exist- ing businesses can seek a period of exemption due to hardship on a case-by-case basis.

Fines as high as $500 could be levied for more than one violation of either ordinance within a year.

Brunswick has already adopted a similar Styrofoam ban. Freeport, Falmouth, Portland, South Portland, Kennebunk and York have adopted restrictions and fees on single-use bags.

Diane Schetky of BYOB Topsham wrote in a recent column about Styrofoam that, “Once out of the box, its favorite hangouts are along roadsides, and in landfills, beaches, rivers and oceans. Styrofoam degrades into small particles that may take up to 500 years to disintegrate.”

She argued that Styrofoam constitutes 90 percent of floating marine debris and constitutes up 25 to 30 percent of landfills.

In a column opposing both ordinances, Curtis Picard of Topsham called the polystyrene ordinance a “feel good effort that will do little to improve the environment.” He said it would replace foam coffee cups and take-out containers with more expensive alternatives.

Picard, also executive director of the Retail Association of Maine, stated, “Issues like these are best decided at the state level and not town by town.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com