Barrington news offered a little bit of everything in 2023 — union contract negotiations, lawsuits, and even disagreements over chalk-covered pickle ball courts. And through it all, …
The Solid Waste Advisory Committee voted to create a working group to examine ways to minimize plastic and styrofoam container waste in the city Thursday evening, after voting down Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald’s proposed plastic container ban.Fitzgerald sought the committee’s approval of a proposed general bylaw amendment banning the use of single-use plastic containers, utensils, and straws by all businesses and food establishments in town.Fitzgerald argued the proposed ban would reduce the environmental impacts associated with discarded single-use plastics entering the sewer system and polluting the environment. He argued that while the ban’s effect on the environment might be miniscule on a regional or global scale, the bylaw could ripple regionally if neighboring municipalities use Swampscott’s environmental policies as an exemplar.