SANDWICH – Over 200 students from Sandwich High School have signed a petition supporting a ban of buying and distributing single-use plastic bottles on town property.
Senior Class President of Sandwich High and Sustainable Practices board member Jacob Swenson spoke at a meeting of the Sandwich School Committee last week.
“I believe if we want to reduce our plastic consumption in general, then we have to demand our government to follow a more sustainable model. And I believe that the town should be the ones to take the initiative and set an example to follow,” Swenson said.
The ban would not limit residents from buying plastic bottled water from stores and market, but rather, the town itself would be barred from buying or selling beverages contained in single-use plastics on town property such as schools.
Plastic beverages are currently available for purchase at schools.
Drinks would be contained in materials like aluminum or cardboard if the ban were to be passed. Students would also be able to take advantage of water fountains designed for reusable water bottles.
Swenson said that not only does recycling inefficiently reuse plastics as they are not fully biodegradable, but it does so at a cost for the town, per information from the Sandwich DPW.
“The differential in cost for recycling and how much that money costs the town of Sandwich since 2017 was negative $30 per ton of cans, plastics, and bottles,” Swenson said.
“So this means that the town of Sandwich is losing $20,000 annually due to how ineffective recycling really is.”
Superintendent Pamela Gould and the rest of the board have expressed support for the proposal.
A special town meeting will be held on October 28 at the high school, where the petition for a plastic ban will be brought up again.
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