Food Bank prepares for plastic bag ban

BREWSTER – When Brewster Food Bank board members and volunteers met on March 17 to discuss new social distancing and safety precautions for food distribution during the COVID-19 outbreak, they also touched on another topic on the horizon, the state’s new ban on plastic grocery store bags.
Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill last Wednesday, March 25 putting all businesses and users on notice that they have until Jan. 1, 2021, to comply with the new measure. The food bank uses plastic grocery bags along with available boxes for its food distribution.
“After January of next year, we cannot use plastic sacks, so we’ll have to use boxes,” manager Neal McKee said.
McKee suggested building a small storage building that could be used to stockpile empty cardboard boxes.
“What if we found someone to underwrite the cost of the grocery bags like we use to take to the store?” asked food bank volunteer Pat Finerty.
Finerty said a few hundred bags with “Brewster Food Bank” printed on them could be handed out to customers who would then return the empty bags for reuse on their return visit to the food bank.
McKee said the Senior Center used to use reusable bags for food distribution but later switched to banana boxes for their strength, uniformity, and stacking.
Volunteer Dan Biddle said that clients could be advised by written handout in advance of the reusable bag policy with a reminder that empty bags must be returned with every food pickup.
McKee asked Finerty to look into securing a sponsor to fund his reusable bag proposal.