A New Hampshire city official has proposed a ban on single-use plastic products like shopping bags and straws.
Portsmouth City Councilor Josh Denton has proposed a distribution of single-use disposables ordinance. The Portsmouth Herald reports the ordinance would ban the distribution of single-use straws unless requested by a customer, ban the distribution of single-use plastic foam containers and ban the distribution of single-use plastic containers.
[Interactive map: These are the Maine towns that have banned plastic bags]
Denton acknowledged his new ordinance is more comprehensive than a previous effort to ban single-use plastic bags, but would be a way to address climate change in the Portsmouth community.
City Attorney Robert Sullivan argued Denton’s previous proposal to ban single-use plastic bags would have been illegal because the state Legislature hadn’t passed the necessary enabling legislation.