Ten towns on the Cape have voted to ban single-use plastic water bottles. That ban went into effect recently for Brewster, Wellfleet, Falmouth, Harwich, Orleans and Provincetown. Other towns’ bans will be implemented over the next several months. Eastham’s will take effect Sept. 21, Dennis and Chatham’s ban will start Dec. 31 and Sandwich will ban single-use plastic water bottles starting January 2022.
While every town on the Cape has banned the sale of plastic bottled beverages on town property, even more could be following in line with the retail ban. Mashpee, for instance, is slated to vote on a measure to ban the commercial sale of single-use plastic water bottles at its Oct. 18 town meeting.
“Our intention in putting in these bans and focusing on this effort was to get people to start to think about their consumption beyond what is in a store,” said Madhavi Venkatesan, founder and executive director of Sustainable Practices, a group that pushed for the bans of single-use plastic bottles in each Cape town. People can make a difference if they consider the environmental impact of their consumption choices, she said.