ORDER-2019-112 : Amend Melrose Revised Ordinances by adding Article VI, Section 198-12: Reduction in Single Use Plastic Beverage Straws and Beverage Stirrers in Business Establishments

Transcript (~46 min @ 2:17:55)

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▶ 2:17:54 Francis X. Wright Jr.: as the maker of this order discuss it for a moment i would appreciate allowing me that

▶ 2:18:09 Francis X. Wright Jr.: this idea first came to me last winter throughout the dinner and up on the North Shore and I've ordered an iced tea and the waitress came to deliver the beverages and said that if I would like a straw I should I would I could request one they'd be happy to give it to me but that they were no longer just giving out straws to with each beverage and that similar to what this ordinance reflects that you were asked to keep your straw were you to get a refill so that caused me to stop thinking along that line I looked at what other communities have in Massachusetts and beyond and as a result they came up with this order which would ban plastic stirrers and require a plastic straws to be only given out when requested by a patron plastic straws will not be banned they will be available it's important to have them available members of our disability community require them in order to enjoy a beverage and so we want them to be available to them I believe as many

▶ 2:19:39 Francis X. Wright Jr.: members of the public who spoke this evening believe that while this is not a cure-all to the plastic issues we have in our world that is a small step we can taken the right direction is a small step that other communities in the Boston area have taken and it's one that we can join if you saw 60 minutes last

▶ 2:20:10 Francis X. Wright Jr.: night they visited Midway Island which is as it the name indicates Midway between Hawaii and the Southeast Asia it is an unoccupied island that has been since World War II. Every year containers, like container ship containers, are filled with the plastic that ends up on the shores of that unoccupied island. None of that plastic originates on that island. It is thousands of miles from America and thousands of miles from Southeast Asia and yet it is filled with plastic. Some large, some small. They also We also showed, we do have representatives of, I believe, the interior department on that island.

▶ 2:21:00 Francis X. Wright Jr.: And they showed how if you take a sifter and you go through the sand and you sift it, that you will get tiny pieces of plastic, which are continually, as a result of being out in the environment, And on the beach, in the water, being eroded into microscopic particles that do not go away. They just become part of our environment. And as we heard tonight, can be taken up and become part of the rainfall, and most likely end up in our food supply. So that's all being studied now, however, I think we can take this very small step. It does not require, again, people not to have a straw. It just puts them in a position where they have to think about whether they actually want and or need a straw. The order would be enforced by the Board of Health, the Health Department, and the first offense would result in a warning. second offense $25 third offense $50 I think establishments in our community are already taking steps as we heard to act in this way which is you know laudable and I applaud them for that but I think as a community we can also take a stand as a board in the city to say that we want to move in this direction and I think we set an example not only for other communities but for our children thank you for giving me this moment and I open it up for discussion

▶ 2:22:55 Manisha Bewtra: thank you thanks for sponsoring this order and I particularly appreciate that you did consider some provisions around accessibility and people with disabilities because from what I've heard in other communities that's usually the the major sticking point for bands and it's great to hear that a lot of our local businesses are already you know starting to use reusable straws or or reducing the use of plastic one-time use plastic straws as it is which is fantastic the other thing that I mean it's kind of quirky that came that I thought of I ultimately wholeheartedly support this order by one particular type of business that we don't that none of our existing Melrose's businesses wholly depend are fully dependent on is a for bubble tea or boba is a beverage that is straw dependent but I did a little bit of quick research on that because I know for example in Malden there is a number of of businesses where that's the main thing that they sell and Taiwan which is where bubble tea originates I believe has also made a move to eliminate one-time use plastic straws so to me I think it's it's very much worth us as passing this and and creating the incentive in our small way for the market to catch up for those you know quirky particular uses that might be straw dependent I do actually have a couple of I one amendment I'd like to make in one that I'm not quite ready to make but wanted to discuss the second just latter being the one I'm not quite ready to make is I saw that your the initial order includes city events I am curious about you know wanting to maybe add also purchasing of one-time use plastic straws are not allowing the purchase of straws by the city or by our schools as something we could potentially add to this ordinance but the other modification that I'm ready to make is asking if if folks would be amenable to adding plastic hot stoppers slash splash sticks these are again I

▶ 2:25:34 Manisha Bewtra: couldn't find like a one official name I think they're typically called splash sticks but they're I know at Starbucks for example there's like the little hole in the lid and there's this little gadget you can put to cover up the coffee it keeps the heat in your beverage and it also prevents it from splashing hence hot stopper or splash stick I personally have found them to be very convenient but they're also so not necessary in the grand scheme of all of the challenges that one-time use plastics create so so therefore I'd like

▶ 2:26:13 Manisha Bewtra: to make motion to amend the order to add everywhere it says plastic straws and

▶ 2:26:25 Manisha Bewtra: plastic beverage stirrers to add to change that to plastic straws comma

▶ 2:26:30 Manisha Bewtra: plastic beverage stirrers comma and plastic hot stoppers slash plastics

▶ 2:26:42 Manisha Bewtra: throughout the order and then add a definition for plastic hot stoppers less

▶ 2:26:47 Manisha Bewtra: splash sticks so I guess first I'd like to make motion to amend the order as such but if you'd like me to read out like specifically the language I can do

▶ 2:26:59 Francis X. Wright Jr.: this my concern over Bewtra is it may not be as easy as you've stated it to so amend the ordinance I'm not so sure those references are always side by side and there was a definition for a straw a definition for a stirrer whereas you

▶ 2:27:20 Francis X. Wright Jr.: wouldn't be adding a definition for those items that you're describing but

▶ 2:27:28 Francis X. Wright Jr.: yes I would leave it to you can make your motion and then if you get a second

▶ 2:27:36 Manisha Bewtra: then we can discuss it as a committee I'm sure I will make a motion and if it gets a second I will read what the order would look like so motion to amend to

▶ 2:27:54 Francis X. Wright Jr.: consider adding plastic hot stoppers and splash sticks to the order well as we

▶ 2:28:10 Manisha Bewtra: work through this I think it's just something worth us considering again I'd say even as much as stirs have no particular they do not need to be made of plastic I've seen alternatives to these flash sticks as well some businesses will use a little sticker which again is made of paper and some adhesive so it's an opportunity for us to think again here's another kind of low-hanging fruit single-use plastic that we could eliminate I certainly don't want to hold up the existing proposal from passing because I think it's it's important we start moving forward on some of these plastic reductions but

▶ 2:28:56 Francis X. Wright Jr.: that's where I'm coming from with it thank you thank you thank you mr. Chairman. I'm sorry. Alderman Forbes was ahead of you. My apologies. Alderman Forbes, my apologies to you as well.

▶ 2:29:10 Scott M. Forbes: Thank you. Sorry for cutting you off, Alderman Search. It's okay. All right. I'm going to approach this at a different angle here. I do not support this order. I know it's probably not the most popular view in this room. As a consumer, I spend $15 to $20 a week at Dunkin' Donuts, and I don't like paper straws. straws every time I have a paper straw all I taste is cardboard in my coffee so as a consumer I don't like the alternative if you can provide a product that is equal to or better than the one that's being replaced I'm all for it however if if you don't and it's inferior and I'm going to use the bags that Shaw's an example because I was all for the the bag ban I talked to the recycling committee I wholeheartedly supported it you look at the bags that come out of Shaw's they're very underwhelming and they were disappointment I think we all have the mindset that we were expecting something that was you know an expectation that didn't measure up where I was expecting a bag from with the same type of quality as a Whole Foods or Roach Brothers I have brown wrapping paper if you put a box of pasta in it the bottom collapses some of them have no handles so when you create an underwhelming product consumers are disappointed I think that I don't know if it's the technology or the product I just don't think that it's there yet but for me that's the way that I think and I know that my opinion is my opinion but everyone else is entitled to their own and I always encourage that so for me I would just simply say that any retail place that offers a plastic straw that you would offer a paper straw out to alternative and let the consumer decide and let the laws of capitalism play itself out if for some reason over time people for prefer paper straws over plastic straws the retailer is not going to order plastic straws anymore and it's going to just naturally trend in that direction but why not just offer both at the same establishments if we're going to be offering both at the same establishments anyway and it's just you're asking a different question then why not just do it that way I don't see a need for the ordinance I do see and I understand that there's different technology that comes in here I recycle home i'm all for it and again i'm all for reusable bags but i feel like that we can do something without an ordinance here so for that i i'm going to uh i'm not going to support this ordinance

▶ 2:31:34 Francis X. Wright Jr.: tonight thank you thank you my apologies hey mr chairman yep um so first i just wanted to say to

▶ 2:31:38 Michael P. Zwirko: alderman butcher i did not second your motion because i think that the best place to probably make that motion would be in the definition section so you may want to expand the definition of plastic beverage stirrer maybe if you change that definition you could have an amendment that seeks to capture what you're trying to do so there's there's probably a way to get there because I would support adding on those heat blockers or stirring sticks or just I think there's a way to do that just not the way that you proposed for what it's

▶ 2:32:13 Michael P. Zwirko: worth so we are way beyond the point in human society where we should be using plastic straws there are alternative products that are available they may not be available at the consumer point of sale but I myself have stainless steel straws some are collapsible they fit on your keychain you can port them places with you and they they do not bend like a plastic straw they can bend like a plastic straw they do not break or tear like a paper straw and they don't taste like cardboard so there are alternatives that are actually superior to plastic straws that are available and it's not just market determinants because the amount of consumption of plastic is the problem and we need to do everything that we can in order to reduce the use of plastic and if we need to force it on the market then so be it because we are way beyond time and we are seeing this plastic everywhere it's all-consuming we have a throw-it-away mentality that we have alternatives that are that are better than what's being proposed or proffered at point-of-sale and they also vary in size and shape and they can adjust for even use of bubble tea so I've gone to cocktail bars where I've gotten bamboo straws I've gone to restaurants where I've actually been given the option of a stainless steel straw I've gone to restaurants where don't offer straws at all there are alternatives we just need to to use them and I think that we're at a point where we can no longer say that the way that been doing things is is appropriate because it clearly is not especially the amount of trash that we're not able to even recycle in most cases especially with respect to these plastic straws i appreciate the order that's been filed by alderman wright in this regard i would even be amenable to expanding it as was previously proposed i just think it needs to be done in a the definition section a little bit differently but this is something that we need need to move forward on so that's all I had to say at this time thank you very

▶ 2:34:33 Peter D. Mortimer: much chairman Rita I agree with everything that alderman's workout just said I'd also like to point out that you still can under this ordinance ask for a plastic straw that's your if that's your preference you can still enjoy that preference under this ordinance you can walk into Dunkin Donuts and say please give me a plastic straw with my iced coffee and they will and they can under this ordinance so that that's not a problem if you really want it you can still get it that's and something else I've talked to members of the recycling committee who was still here and something I noticed while we were

▶ 2:35:17 Peter D. Mortimer: discussing this over the summer is that in Dunkin Donuts they serve a lot of plastic products and I agree with everything you said about what this is And Alderman's Worker said, time is way past. But they don't have a recycling bin at Dunkin' Donuts. And I'm going to see, and it's in Ward 6, too. So I'm going to see what we can do to make that happen. Because they serve the big cup with iced coffee and the medium cup and the small cup with iced coffee. They got the straws for people who are going to ask for them. And now everyone gets one automatically. And they also serve bottles of orange juice and bottled water. that everybody walks over and throws them right in the trash barrel. I've taken some ones that are near the top or just on tables and I throw them in the back of my car. And then when I head down to the Y, because City of Melrose does things pretty well, there's a plastic recycling bin right out in front of the YMCA. So I'll take the plastic bottles that I collected from the tabletops at Dunkin' Donuts and put them all in our recycling bin, and I'm going to see if we can work with Dunkin' Donuts, the Skravanos Corporation, and the managers there, Claudia and Anu, and see if we can get a recycling bin right on site, because people are just throwing tons of plastic right in the trash. And I don't know, I don't think they have a place where they pick it out like they do do with some recycling single-use recycling pretty sure they don't do that but I'll find out and that's something else we can do because you're absolutely right and alderman's work goes that you're all absolutely right chairman Rita and you're absolutely right alderman's work oh this is this is a step in the right direction that isn't too tough to swallow you know it's easy

▶ 2:37:11 Francis X. Wright Jr.: it's easy enough thank you thank you any other alderman

▶ 2:37:16 Monica C. Medeiros: Alma Medeiros thank you so as I've been out and about I've been going into a lot of businesses and I've been asking them you know has anybody talked to you about this plastic straw ordinance and inevitably the answer that I've been getting is no and one of the things that I hear out there that people are frustrated with sort of in general is that you know a lot of times decisions are just made from City Hall or from government without any discussion with the people that are involved and are affected and I know that the recycling committee had passed around frequently asked questions and I know they've spoken to some businesses but there's still many many businesses that have not been spoken to and from those that I do speak to some they have different perspectives most of them are willing to look at this and and some of them have already changed their on their own change their way of doing things that they don't know they don't give out straws unless somebody asked for them some of them have in fact changed to paper straws some of them really just had no idea about it they're not necessarily interested but they're not necessarily opposed some of them have some different situations as well so in

▶ 2:38:49 Monica C. Medeiros: just looking at this and that the straw factor I really again similar to the other ordinance I feel like this is something that the straw is one piece of the puzzle but I think that we could really do so much better to eliminate single-use plastic and single-use the single-use mentality in general if we We took a proactive approach, and a voluntary approach, but a proactive approach, and went out and talked to the businesses about their own specific things. We just talked about Dunkin' Donuts, but the straw is one little piece of that plastic cup that has my iced coffee in it an awful lot of the time, but we should be talking to them about looking at switching to paper cups instead of plastic cups, thinking about those lids from I went to Cafe Nero a couple of weeks ago and had the paper straw only experience however the the before I had realized it the cup was one of those new lids where you don't need to have a straw it's so much thicker in the plastic that's involved that that I think that you know if we went back and worked proactively front with you know business by business I think we could get a lot more voluntary change and a lot more significance than than just simply the straws and I think there are things that we can and should do at the city level to look at these hot spots like I've gone out and you know help clean up El Pond and you know there's a lot of different trash there I have found some straws we found other different things as well but inevitably I see on the weekend there's so many people there for sports activities you see the trash barrel and it's filled with single-use plastic things whether they're you know Dunkin Donuts cups whether they're single-use water bottles whether they're juice cups and I think you know our friends at the recycling committee can correct me on this but I think and we should follow up with this later but I think if we have a dirty sink used iced coffee cup unless you bring it home and rinse it out and then put it in the recycling I think if it's still has the residue of the coffee it's considered to be contaminated and not really truly recyclable at that point but what we could do to eliminate some of that is if we put in water stations at these hot spots like at El Pond like at the common so that there was a place that people could get clean water we have to keep it clean we can't be like the you know old water bubblers of old that were disgusting and frankly that's why people wanted a bottle of water because it was cleaner but if we added these in strategic areas and people knew that they if they were going to go you know have a soccer game that they would have a place to fill up their own reusable water bottle I bet you see a lot less trash and a lot less cups with straws in them down at El Pond and a lot of other places and I think you know I appreciate you know I know Alderman Wright is trying to do you know his part here I I just again you know we talked about the enforcement issue and and you know I can't see that our Health Department can really take this on any more than I think our building department could take on the previous order and I appreciate this I mean I'm committed to going out and working with businesses to find ways for them to voluntarily you know look at their plastic consumption and and bring it back down and you know see which ways that you know whether it's and I think lacquer char is a great example where I see that they have paper straws but they also have bamboo straws available for purchase and and to do options like that to find ways to reduce the plastic usage and but I think as much as I appreciate your efforts i i'm not going to support this order at this time thank you alderman Medeiros

▶ 2:42:57 Robert A. Boisselle: like alderman Medeiros i stopped in a number of restaurants and businesses in melrose and so forth and asking the question has anyone talked to you concerning about the banning or not using straws plastic straws and a number of them are saying not from the city but we're hearing it it from our corporate offices a lot of the franchises or just businesses themselves are moving away from offering plastic straws to their patrons or customers and again these regulations are the purpose is this basically to reduce the distribution the single-use plastic straws and leaving it up to the restaurant or business to offer a plastic straw if asked for so basically and even in the definitions of business

▶ 2:43:55 Robert A. Boisselle: establishments we have more exemptions and actually businesses that we're trying to well we're not even trying to educate them we should be educating

▶ 2:44:10 Robert A. Boisselle: these people to begin with and straw ordinance and self is not a ban it's just trying to reduce the amount of plastic straws that are being used in Melrose I think in the enforcement aspects of the regulations since this is not being banned and we're just trying to help the environment I think the first offense may be a notice with education if these businesses are not told how to do it or why they're doing it why it should be done it should be a notice in education a second offense a written warning hey we've educated you you should be trying this in the third offense instead of a monetary put a little incentive suspension of their license for 15 days or 30 days maybe that you get them to step forward to be a little more aggressive and not

▶ 2:45:20 Robert A. Boisselle: offering plastic straws and it's a good aspects again we're trying the purpose of this regulation is to reduce the distribution of single-use plastic straws and not to ban them in Melrose Thank You mr. chairman thank you for the

▶ 2:45:45 Manisha Bewtra: first time thank you I will attempt to make the amendment as suggested by Alderman's work oh and ask that if I am not quite doing that the way requested that maybe I get a second anyway so that we have an opportunity to discuss it so I'd like them to because I do have the full language of how I envision this addition of plastic hot stoppers and splash sticks to be throughout the the

▶ 2:46:13 Manisha Bewtra: proposed ordinance and I can read that in full if upon discussion but so motion

▶ 2:46:24 Speaker 5: to add a definition for plastic hot stopper slash splash thick which it

▶ 2:46:28 Manisha Bewtra: would be as follows this would be in addition to plastic beverage straw and

▶ 2:46:36 Manisha Bewtra: plastic beverage stirrer plastic hot stopper slash splash thick means a standalone device intended for one-time use used to plug the opening of a beverage lid for the purpose of keeping the liquid inside hot and to prevent it from splashing and made predominantly of plastic derived from either petroleum or a biologically based polymer such as corn or other plant source plastic hot

▶ 2:47:04 Manisha Bewtra: stoppers slash splash sticks include compostable and biodegradable petroleum or biologically based polymer stirs splash sticks hot stirs hot stoppers

▶ 2:47:18 Manisha Bewtra: slash splash sticks but do not include hot stoppers slash splash sticks that are made from non-plastic materials such as but not limited to paper sugar cane wood wood and bamboo so you can see what I did was basically add a definition but use the same language that's above for plastic beverage stirrer and the reason

▶ 2:47:40 Manisha Bewtra: I did that it's just because there are actually two different plastic things so I'd like to make that motion to add this definition motion has been made by

▶ 2:47:49 Francis X. Wright Jr.: Alderman Bewtra to add the language he just discussed so I'll second it on

▶ 2:48:04 Francis X. Wright Jr.: discussion okay so the motion has been made by Alderman Bewtra to add that language which he just stated has been seconded by Alderman Zwirko Alderman Zwirko

▶ 2:48:20 Michael P. Zwirko: on discussion of the motion yes thank you so I'm supporting this I said I i would like it to be included um i just so i'm i'm supportive of adding it i just thought that it should have tweaked the definition of plastic beverage stir so it folds in you don't have to then tag the definite the actual new section in throughout the rest of the ordinance do you see

▶ 2:48:45 Manisha Bewtra: what i'm saying i do so through the chair can i speak directly to alderman's work in response

▶ 2:48:50 Michael P. Zwirko: I'm happy to support it I still think that it's incomplete because we need to further amend the ordinance itself to now include the clause plastic I don't even know what you've called that have a hot blocker so that needs to fall throughout the rest of the ordinance so I'm supporting it with you in unison

▶ 2:49:14 Michael P. Zwirko: in with the spirit of the wanting to add that extra piece of plastic but there's still work that needs to be done in the motion my recommendation was as you amend the actual definition of stir to include the stick and that way you don't need to change the rest of the trickle-down language in the ordinance

▶ 2:49:37 Francis X. Wright Jr.: itself but yeah discussion should be through the chair I apologize no and it's okay just you're looking at each other like you're gonna have a conversation and the discussion goes to the chair it's for all those present both both on the committee and here in the chamber so understood I support the

▶ 2:50:01 Michael P. Zwirko: motion I wanted to make those comments through the chair noting that I still

▶ 2:50:11 Francis X. Wright Jr.: feel it's thank you any other discuss any other alderman for the first time on

▶ 2:50:20 Francis X. Wright Jr.: the motion and the other alderman on the motion and apologies for procedural

▶ 2:50:33 Manisha Bewtra: missteps and for thank you for so the reason I mean I think I hear you on adding I hear aldermen Zorco on the adding this language to plastic beverage

▶ 2:50:49 Manisha Bewtra: stir I think the reason my suggestion would be to add a third definition and add plastic hot stopper slash plastic would be because it is a different thing it's not used to stir the beverage and ultimately once this ordinance is on the book I think we want to make it as clear as possible so throughout this ordinance the way that amendment would read would be the title of the ordinance being

▶ 2:51:19 Manisha Bewtra: reduction and single-use plastic beverage straws beverage stirrers and

▶ 2:51:28 Speaker 9: hot stoppers slash splash sticks in business establishments and then with

▶ 2:51:34 Manisha Bewtra: the first whereas whereas plastic straws comma strike and plastic beverage stirrers comma and plastic hot stoppers less plastics often are used just for a few minutes but take hundreds of years to break down and then making that same

▶ 2:51:48 Manisha Bewtra: change of comma strike the word and so it's instead of plastic straws and plastic beverage stirrers it's plastic straws comma plastic beverage stirrers comma and plastic hot stoppers slash plastics basically we would be carrying that through the first all of the four whereas statements and then in the

▶ 2:52:14 Manisha Bewtra: therefore statement and under purpose and intent and then add the definition

▶ 2:52:27 Manisha Bewtra: that I read earlier and then under use regulations would be a B add a new C and

▶ 2:52:37 Manisha Bewtra: reorder the existing C and D to make them D and E but adding effective

▶ 2:52:44 Speaker 9: December 1st blah blah blah I think ultimately the main reason I'm

▶ 2:52:46 Manisha Bewtra: suggesting that it's I just think it's a different item but I'm open to however the committee would like to dispose of this at this time thank you thank you

▶ 2:53:02 Francis X. Wright Jr.: following putra um clerk of committees yes do you understand what the amendment is or will you be

▶ 2:53:13 Speaker 5: able to recapture it i'm going to request it in writing sure i'll be able to request it and

▶ 2:53:18 Manisha Bewtra: apologies again that i've had email issues um so i haven't been able to send this out to the

▶ 2:53:25 Francis X. Wright Jr.: committee but thank you alderman liberal garabedian motion yes on the motion um and i'm obviously not

▶ 2:53:28 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: a voting member but one option could be to change the term plastic beverage stirrer to plastic beverage stick and then just include the definition you already have of stir which is a stick and it sounds like the type of item that alderman Bewtra has raised for our attention is also sometimes called a splash stick so we could just change the term we could sell a plastic beverage straw then you could have a second defined term which is plastic beverage stick which you could continue by reading means a device that is used to mix or stir beverages or and this is where alderman Bewtra language comes in which forgive me I don't I didn't write it down but it describes what that the purpose of that stick is and then comma intended for one time only one time used and it continues from there so we could change it just to from stir to stick and stick would incorporate both the definition of a stir and the definition of a hot stopper slash splash stick and that might streamline the edits because nothing else would need to be edited so that's just a suggestion for the

▶ 2:54:50 Francis X. Wright Jr.: committee the other discussion on the motion there

▶ 2:54:56 Francis X. Wright Jr.: Hearing no other discussion on the motion.

▶ 2:55:00 Speaker 3: All in favor?

▶ 2:55:04 Speaker 10: Aye.

▶ 2:55:07 Speaker 3: All opposed? Opposed. Opposed.

▶ 2:55:11 Speaker 2: Opposed.

▶ 2:55:12 Speaker 5: The motion fails.

▶ 2:55:14 Speaker 3: Back to a discussion on the item itself.

▶ 2:55:22 Francis X. Wright Jr.: Do we have any other aldermen for the first time?

▶ 2:55:27 Speaker 3: Any other aldermen for the second time?

▶ 2:55:32 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: or get obedient so I'm not again not a voting member but I will just share that I appreciate chairman Wright bringing this proposal to this committee and eventually to the full board depending on the will of the committee I would be in support of this I like that it sort of encapsulates the nudge theory of encouraging a certain type of behavior or choice but allowing choice to remain for consumers so I think that's a really nice way to frame a regulation like this and I also have heard from a couple members of the committee that adding this additional one-time use plastic use is something that would be captured in

▶ 2:56:31 Speaker 11: spirit of the ordinance as well so i would say that i would certainly consider that as well

▶ 2:56:36 Francis X. Wright Jr.: thank you anyone else for the second time i just have a few comments of my own

▶ 2:56:42 Francis X. Wright Jr.: after hearing everyone's comments again i would reiterate this is a choice to help reduce the use of plastic straws some people don't want straws i've never in my adult life I generally wanted a straw when I've ordered an iced tea or a beverage that might come with a straw. I usually take it out, I lay it down, and I've seen many people do that. People who want them can get them. It's not a major ask. It's simply, it wouldn't surprise me if you find that staff will say, would you like a straw with that? And that may happen, but we've heard that too many are given out.

▶ 2:57:27 Francis X. Wright Jr.: It's important to keep in mind, when you talk about the plastic cups, when you talk about other plastic items, many if not most of those are recyclable, straws are not recyclable. As for the businesses in the community, I know that the Chamber of Commerce has been contacted. I know that it was on the front page of the newspaper. I know that they could have been here tonight. I know that they could have written to us. We have received many written communications from residents of the community, and we have received many written, I'm sorry, not have received, but we've had tonight appear before us residents of the community. No one from the business community came forward to speak in opposition to us. As far as I know, no one in the business community contacted us as a board and opposed this. The chamber has been notified. They have obligations. They are members of this community. We do not have to run to them. We don't run to everyone else when we pass an ordinance. I don't understand why I have to run up and down Main Street and talk to everyone when I wanna do something. I just don't understand this. I believe this board and any other elected official in this city is elected to lead, not to follow. That's my philosophy.

▶ 2:58:46 Francis X. Wright Jr.: As far as enforceability goes, there are plenty of ordinances on the books that are not fully enforceable because we don't have the staff. That should never be a basis for not moving this community forward, in my opinion, all right? We don't do it with speeding. We don't say, we can't enforce speeding, so let's have it. It's the Autobahn, go the speed you want. We don't do that. We put something in place, and like all other laws, we count on the good residents of this community the good business people of this community to comply we try not to go out and enforce i'd much rather see them be educated i'd much rather see them comply because they choose to but it's those scoff laws that we may ultimately have to enforce against so i think that

▶ 2:59:46 Francis X. Wright Jr.: it's it's really an obligation of this board to continually look for ways to move our community forward and to improve the environment in which our children grow up in and if if that's not the choice this community wants to make like other communities around us we're all we're asking to do in this case is something very small is to reduce the exposure to something which the world is fast becoming aware of is going to become an environmental disaster potentially when we don't know what to do with this plastic it doesn't decompose it sits on the bottom of our oceans it sits in our woods it sits on our beaches it's decomposing it's turning into microscopic particles that we don't know how they're going to affect our lives our food chain so that's why i put this forward i saw an opportunity i had faith in and the members of this board to ask the right questions and ultimately make a decision that they think is in the best interest of this community and i hope that both this committee and the board as a whole will pause and consider what this ordinance this proposed ordinance is intended to do a small step in the right direction to reduce the community's use of a plastic that is not recyclable and hopefully allow people to stop and take a step in the direction of taking some small num small measure of plastic out of the um consumer stream and perhaps that will be a start in a long road to reducing plastic overall thank you any other discussion you want to take another stab at this

▶ 3:01:38 Manisha Bewtra: I know I voted against my earlier motion because I liked alderman liberal Garipay obedience suggestion and wanted to take a minute to see what that would look like so I would like to make a motion to replace the word stir with stick and and

▶ 3:02:01 Manisha Bewtra: amend the definition of plastic beverage stir to plastic beverage stick adding so

▶ 3:02:08 Manisha Bewtra: that it reads plastic beverage stick means a device that is used to mix beverages or to plug the opening of a beverage lid intended for one-time use and made predominantly of plastic derived from either petroleum or a biologically based polymer such as core corner other plant source plastic beverage stick includes compostable and biodegradable petroleum or other or biologically based polymer stirs hot stoppers and splash sticks but does not include stirs hot stoppers and splash sticks that are made from non-plastic materials such as but not limited to paper sugar cane wood and bamboo so to reiterate what I'm doing is replacing the word stir with stick in the definition adding or to plug the opening of a beverage lid and adding hot

▶ 3:03:04 Speaker 9: stoppers and splash sticks in the list of items included so motion to amend as

▶ 3:03:09 Speaker 9: stated and I'd be happy to send the clerk of committees exactly which sorry

▶ 3:03:16 Francis X. Wright Jr.: if that's clumsy motion by Alderman Bewtra as stated second seconded by elements work Oh discussion on the motion hearing none on the motion all in

▶ 3:03:39 Francis X. Wright Jr.: favor yes opposed opposed as the fifth member of the committee opposed okay on

▶ 3:03:54 Francis X. Wright Jr.: the item any other discussion hearing none on the item members of the committee all in favor aye aye opposed as the fifth member of the

▶ 3:04:07 Francis X. Wright Jr.: committee I'm a vote in favor the item will go to the full board recommended any other matters for this committee this evening no hearing none motion to adjourn motion to adjourn by Alderman Forbes stay tuned for the continuation