On this upcoming Election Day, residents of Topsham have an opportunity to decrease the prevalence of litter while saving the town and property taxpayers money. The solution is to support Question 1, the Bag Ordinance, and Question 2, the Polystyrene Ordinance (i.e., Styrofoam). I take this position based on my many years as a solid waste researcher and former solid waste professional. Topsham residents can join the more than 350 cities and towns, including six in Maine, which have adopted ordinances to reduce one or both of these single-use products.

Why? The contribution of single use plastic bags and single-use polystyrene food containers to land and ocean litter and their costly impact to impairing stormwater management are well documented. Although in theory both products are recyclable, like other municipalities in Maine and throughout the country, Topsham does not recycle either product.

While grocery stores in Maine are required by state law to offer plastic bag recycling, but not polystyrene recycling, little of either product is actually collected for recycled. According to studies in California and Illinois, only 1.5 to 3 percent of plastic bags are recycled, and for polystyrene, only 1 percent is recycled. This means that 97 percent and 99 percent respectively are used, then landfilled, usually after only one, short use. Research identified the average life-span of single-use bags as only 12 minutes after point of sale. Using the estimated, national average of annual per-capita consumption of single-use bags (348.3 plastic bags and 81 paper bags), not counting tourists, Topsham generates over 2 million plastic and 480,000 paper bags each year. For polystyrene, based on studies, the annual generation rate is 5.3 to 6.4 lbs per person (there are about 46 polystyrene “clamshell” take-out containers per lb.).

Recycling is not a viable management method for these two products because of the very high cost to segregate, collect, and transport these very light materials. Economically this would not be an issue if there were viable commodity markets that returned meaningful revenues to offset costs. However, in spite of them being petroleum-based, there is minimal market demand for these inherently low-value products coupled with the fact that they are often contaminated with food and/or wet, further reducing their already low value. If a town cannot recycle a waste material, its only option is disposal. Of course, there is another option, to reduce the generation of the material as proposed by the two ballot questions.

By decreasing the generation of waste, Topsham saves money by not having to ship ($155 per haul) and dispose ($56.50 per ton) of these single-use products to the Hampden landfill. For single-use bags, some communities, including in Maine, voted to only ban plastic bags. However, research has shown that with plastic bans, consumption of paper bags correspondingly increases, which actually means higher costs to retailers. While paper bags are recycled in Topsham, recycling is not free. The town pays $28 per ton for recycling and a $150 fee for each shipment. Simply replacing plastic bags with paper bags will actually cost the town and retailers more.

One has to step back and think about both products. Both are designed to be single-use — use once then dispose. Litter studies have found that because of plastic bag’s “ballooning” characteristics, many escape trash cans, trash trucks, transfer stations, and landfills becoming a litter problem. Based on a study in Portland, litter cleanup costs are $0.17 to $0.79 per piece of litter in addition to subsequent disposal and transportation costs of collected litter. While paper is recycled and causes less of a litter problem, it has a much greater environmental impact to produce than plastic because of its total carbon footprint. Again, the solution is to support Question 1. This ordinance is designed to recognize the costs (collection, transportation, disposal, litter collection, and stormwater clean out) to the town and the environment by adding a 5 cent fee. The ordinance retains consumer choice because it does not ban bags, but instead offers encouragement to consumers to reuse bags.

Unlike with reusable bags, there are few viable opportunities for customers to bring reusable food containers to vendors. As other neighboring Maine towns, including Brunswick, Falmouth, Freeport, South Portland, Portland, and York have found, banning polystyrene has had a positive environmental impact and economic benefit by reducing land and marine litter and reducing the impact on stormwater catch basins. Fortunately for businesses and customers, there are many viable alternatives to polystyrene.

By joining your fellow Mainers, Topsham voters have the opportunity to make a meaningful, positive change by making Topsham’s environment cleaner while reducing the preventable costs of litter collection and decreasing the costs to taxpayers’ for disposing or recycling of single-use products all while supporting consumer choice.

Travis P. Wagner is a professor at the

Department of Environmental Science & Policy at the University of Southern Maine.