It’s no surprise that Rhode Island’s environmental community has for years supported a ban on single-use plastic bags. What may be more unexpected is that business groups in the state are now backing the measure.

PROVIDENCE — It’s no surprise that Rhode Island’s environmental community has for years supported a ban on single-use plastic bags.

What may be more unexpected is that business groups in the state are now backing the measure.

At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture on Tuesday, support was nearly unanimous for legislation that resulted from meetings of the plastics task force convened last summer by Gov. Gina Raimondo.

The bill written by the state Department of Environmental Management and introduced by Senate President Dominick Ruggerio would prohibit thin-film plastic bags of the type used in supermarkets, would charge 5 cents for replacement paper bags, and would supersede local bag bans already passed in a host of communities across the state.

Antonio Fonseca, co-owner of Packaging & More, a Central Falls wholesaler of paper, plastic and reusable bags, has spoken in opposition to past iterations of the bag legislation, but the DEM’s version has two new provisions that are driving his support this time around, he told the committee.

By allowing shops to charge a small fee for paper bags, the law would help mitigate their additional cost. And by replacing local ordinances, it would create a single statewide standard.

“This is the way compromise looks to me,” said Fonseca, who was a member of the governor’s task force.

The fee would do more than defray business costs, said John Berard, Rhode Island director of Clean Water Action and co-chair of the task force. It’s also aimed at pushing people to invest in reusable bags.

“It’s behavioral economics,” he said. “They can choose to pay the fee or bring their own reusable bag.”

A similar fee was put in place as part of Boston’s bag ban, but when the Providence City Council tried to do the same thing, Mayor Jorge Elorza vetoed the proposal out of concern that it would unfairly burden low-income neighborhoods.

To address that concern, Coit said that the state plans to distribute free reusable bags if the legislation passes. The number of bags could range between 100,000 and 1 million, said DEM assistant director Terrence Gray.

The bill comes after 10 cities and towns around Rhode Island have passed ordinances in recent years banning single-use plastic bags. Sarah Bratko, manager of governmental affairs for the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, argued in favor of statewide legislation, saying the patchwork of rules has been difficult to navigate.

“This really has been a huge problem for businesses,” she said. “It adds cost to anything we are doing.”

The only criticism of the bill offered by speakers at the hearing is that it may not go far enough. Amy Moses, director of the Conservation Law Foundation in Rhode Island, spoke in support of the legislation, but urged an amendment that would allow cities and towns to enact more stringent ordinances if they desire.

Kate Weymouth, vice president of the Town Council in Barrington — the first community in Rhode Island to pass a bag ban — said the bill as written has a loophole that businesses may try to take advantage of.

By not specifying that reusable bags must have “stitched” handles, the bill leaves open the possibility that shops could simply offer more durable plastic bags, rather than paper bags or true reusable bags. Barrington, she said, learned that lesson by experience and had to rewrite its ordinance.

Coit said in an interview that the language was not included in the bill as a compromise with businesses.

There is a second bill on the table that would introduce a statewide bag ban. Sponsored by Sen. Josh Miller, D-Cranston, it goes a step further by also prohibiting single-use polystyrene food containers.

Although Moses and others spoke in support, there were a greater number of objectors.

A third piece of legislation that would prohibit restaurants from offering plastic straws to its patrons received broad support at the hearing.

All three bills were held for further study.

— akuffner@providencejournal.com

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