During the Plymouth Township’s Environmental Advisory Board meeting on April 19th, the board members discussed the feedback generated through a survey regarding a potential ban on plastic bags within the township.
The environmental advisory board was established in 2008 and members are appointed by the township’s council. Its members are tasked with advising the council on matters relating to the protection, conservation, management, promotion of the natural resources of the township, and the protection and the improvement of the quality of the environment. It was established in 2008.
During the April 19th meeting. Plymouth Township Councilmember Lynn Viscio who participated in the meeting at one point stated that she was surprised that the responses from the survey were evenly split on the issue.
The members of the environmental advisory board went on to lament that the results of the survey show that the public needs to be educated about the issue.
The board’s chair, Bill Sabey, spoke on how the survey wasn’t really done to determine the public’s opinion on the issue, but just to generate some initial feedback. He pointed to surveys taken in three other Pennsylvania townships that found the public favored bans on plastic bags.
Sabey also expressed concerns about doing a more broad survey in an attempt to determine the Plymouth Township community’s opinion on the issue because they might not be successful in getting a proportional level of participation from the public and the result might show the public doesn’t favor banning plastic bags.
Sabey goes on to say that if they got a negative response from the public, it might “turn council away from doing this [meaning the ban]” and that it is the right thing to do and it really is an issue of educating the public.
The below video has the discussion about the potential bag ban. It is the first item discussed.
Look for the issue to be discussed further in environmental advisory board meetings and eventually at the council level.
Let us know what you think in the comments.