Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is appointing a task force that will come up with ways to reduce the use of disposable plastics like shopping bags, straws and balloons from polluting the state’s shoreline and its waters.
Raimondo signed an executive order at Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett to create a “Task Force to Tackle Plastics,” a group that will consider a range of options, from incentives for businesses to cut down on single-use plastics to possible statewide bans on thin-film plastic bags or other products.
This comes after community-led efforts in around Rhode Island to ban disposable plastic bags. Barrington was the first community to enact a ban in 2013 and Newport and Middletown passed ordinances last year. Portsmouth, Bristol and Jamestown, followed suit this year. Block Island banned bags and balloons.
However, despite these actions, California and Hawaii are still the only states in the nation with bag bans. In March, the City Council approved an ordinance, modeled after one in Boston, that would have banned plastic bags and required retailers to charge a fee for paper bags or more durable plastic bags. Mayor Jorge Elorza vetoed the ordinance after council members and others raised concerns that the 10-cent fees would unfairly burden poor residents.
Read the full story at http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180716/governor-creates-task-force-to-study-reducing-plastics-use-in-ri.