During its June 8th meeting, the Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to advertise an ordinance that has been developed over the past 12 months involving single-use plastic bags and other items. Prior to the vote, Township Manager Rich Mellor stated the six points addressed by the proposed ordinance:

• Bans single-use plastic bags and non-recycled content paper bags.
• Allows reusable bags meeting specified criteria and paper bags with a minimum of 40% postconsumer recycled content.
• A minimum fee of $0.15 must be charged for each bag given to customers. This fee is retained by
  the business and noted on the receipt.
• Plastic straws and utensils will be provided only upon request by the customer.
• Some types of bags are exempt including bags used for produce, meat, fish, poultry, pre-prepared
  foods, baked goods, dry cleaning, newspapers, and trash bags and live animals (ie crickets).
• Signage will be required to be posted to educate consumers.

The proposed ordinance will now be advertised over a two-week period and it can then be adopted at a future meeting. You can watch the presentation and vote here. You can read the text of the proposed ordinance here (page 42).