In August 2022 Borough Council approved an ordinance banning single use plastic bags and regulating single use plastic devices in Ambler Borough, effective March 1, 2023. This will be followed by a ban on styrofoam March 1, 2024. Ambler is now the 11th Pennsylvania municipality to ban single use plastics (and one of the first to include polystyrene)! This process began 4 years ago but was put on hold by the state moratorium in 2019 and revisited in January 2022, beginning six months of public outreach and cooperative deliberation. The resulting single use plastics ordinance is aimed at encouraging consumers and commercial establishments within the Borough to help reduce the use and environmental impact of single-use plastics by promoting the use of reusable bags and substituting other biodegradable products for plastic and polystyrene food containers. This ordinance does not apply to items such as forks, spoons, knives, chopsticks, as well as recyclable plastic cups and lids.
With the guidance of Faran Savitz of Penn Environment, Nancy Roecker Coates of the Ambler EAC drafted a sample ordinance that Borough Council was then able to take and shape to incorporate the feedback of the many residents and business owners who attended our meetings and shared their thoughts. Single-use materials are a momentary convenience that last a lifetime. Many plastics, even plant-based varieties, are not recyclable in curbside programs and do not biodegrade in landfills. Much of this waste instead slowly degrades into microplastics and enter our water, food, and air.
