The Abington Township board of commissioners passed legislation during their meeting on Thursday, February 13 which will ban the distribution of single-use plastic bags in the township.
The ordinance is scheduled to go into effect after 180 days and includes a ban on single-use plastic bags and a ban on expanded foam polystyrene containers like plates, cups, and takeout containers.
Abington’s ordinance does not include a minimum charge for paper bags or other bags provided by retailers.
Plans for the ordinance date back to October 2023 when the township’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) held a public information session. In February 2024, the EAC submitted a proposal to the Board of Commissioners to ban plastic bags and polystyrene containers. They began requesting feedback from local businesses regarding the proposal in September 2024.
PennEnvironment, an advocacy nonprofit which helped draft the ordinance, estimates that Abington residents use over 21 million single-use plastic bags annually, equivalent to over 235,000 pounds of plastic waste.
The township became the 37th municipality in Pennsylvania and the 15th in Montgomery County to pass single-use plastics legislation. They are the first Pennsylvania municipality to do so in 2025.
PennEnvironment’s Zero Waste Advocate Faran Savitz send the following statement to Glenside Local in response to the announcement:
PennEnvironment applauds Abington for taking this step to address pollution from single-use plastics. This is a good start in the effort to tackle the scourge of rampant plastic pollution that plagues our neighborhoods, our local parks and green spaces, and our rivers, streams, and oceans.
Nothing we use for a few minutes, such as single-use plastic bags, should be allowed to litter our communities, pollute our environment, and fill our landfills and incinerators for hundreds of years to come.
Legislation banning single-use plastics is a proven tool we can use to protect our environment. And with this vote, one in every five Pennsylvanians now lives in a community with a plastic bag ban. We know these policies work. By dramatically reducing the distribution of single-use plastics, we dramatically reduce their pollution.
Every resident has had the experience of watching plastic bags blowing down our streets and through our neighborhoods, seeing plastic bags stuck in curbside trees and bushes, or in our parks and other outdoor places we love.
While it’s disappointing that Abington did not pass the strongest version of the ordinance as recommended by their EAC and others, it’s exciting that these laws are spreading across Pennsylvania. With the passage of a plastics ordinance in the township, it shows the incredible leadership coming from local officials in the fight against plastic waste and pollution.
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