In Keene, a group of people are lobbying for the city to ban plastic bags. A plastic bag ban was enacted in Northampton in January. Danielle Baudrand lives in Keene and is leading the effort there. “We need more people to help,” she told the Valley Post in a phone interview March 9. “The law says the city can't ban plastic bags unless the state says it's OK.”

Paul Spector was a member of the Northampton city council when the bag law passed. “There was overwhelming public support for this,” he told the Valley Post in a telephone interview in December 2015. “Almost the only ones who opposed it were national chain stores. Most of the local business owners supported it.” Dozens of people spoke in favor of the ban at public hearings, Spector said.

Last year, stores in Northampton gave out about 10 million plastic bags. That's according to:

http://northamptonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4653

A list of places that have banned plastic bags is at:

www.surfrider.org/pages/plastic-bag-bans-fees

They include the nations of Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Great Britain, Haiti, Italy, Ireland, Mali, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania; the state of Hawaii; and the cities of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; Washington, DC; Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; and Seattle, Washington.

Baudrand recently sent a letter to the Keene city council asking them to outlaw plastic bags. City officials told her she must first get the state to pass a law allowing Keene to pass a bag ban. She said the Surfrider Foundation has been helping with the effort. Baudrand can be reached via www.DanielleBaudrand.com.