FREEPORT

In a brief meeting Monday, the Freeport Town Council voted to set a public hearing for a proposed fee on single-use food and grocery bags for Tuesday, May 17 at 6:30 p.m. Also, the council voted to accept the signatures of a separate citizens’ initiative banning plastic bags altogether.

Those for tighter regulations on single-use bags collected more than 650 validated signatures. The measure somewhat mimics the bag ordinance the town was already considering, however, it takes it one step further and eliminates single-use plastic bags for food and groceries rather than charging five cents per bag.

The initiative would still allow paper bags, but with a five-cent fee to further encourage the use of reusable bags.

Currently, the town is planning on putting its own ordinance as a nonbinding vote on the June 14 ballot, charging five cents for paper or plastic bags in order to encourage reusable bags and reduce litter.

In November, Councilor Sarah Tracy said the reason for the nonbinding vote is that voters cannot pass a town ordinance. That, she said, is a function of town officials.

“The import of sending it out to vote is that the voters of the town of Freeport would provide direction on whether it should be adopted, but the actual passing of the ordinance would have to be done by the council,” Tracy said.

If passed, Freeport would be the second town in Maine to completely ban the use of plastic grocery bags, joining York.

A similar measure that would have charged a fee for plastic bags failed in Brunswick, which instead opted for a second part of the same proposal that called for a ban on the use of polystyrene containers. The polystyrene ban passed unanimously in March.

Restaurants and businesses whose food sales represent less than 2 percent of gross sales would be exempt from the ordinance.

The proposal puts the town manager in charge of enforcement, which could mean a $250 fine for the first violation in a one-year period to $500 for a second and each subsequent violation in a one-year period.

For Freeport’s Bow Street Market, it’s a matter of building better habits among customers when it comes to being environmentally friendly.

Store manager Jim Frey said back in April, on Earth Day, the market stopped using plastic bags and moved over to paper. Signage outside the store gives friendly reminders to shoppers to bring in their reusable bags as well. As for fees, Frey said the market has no intentions of ever charging their customers for bags.

“Our biggest thing is we want to keep the plastic out of the environment, so we’re offering the paper. We don’t want to pass those fees on to the customer even though the retailers obviously are absorbing those,” Frey said, adding that their commitment to paper over plastic comes with a higher price tag. According to Frey, plastic used to cost the market about two cents a bag, while paper costs from 12 to 18 cents a bag.

Frey said the biggest goal of the store is to change people’s habits when shopping — encouraging them to bring reusable bags and totes without penalizing them with a fee for noncompliance.

June vote

• FREEPORT IS planning on putting its own ordinance as a nonbinding vote on the June 14 ballot, charging five cents for paper or plastic bags in order to encourage reusable bags and reduce litter.