Lawmakers Reject Statewide Ban On Plastic Bags

BOSTON (AP) _ Massachusetts lawmakers have decided against a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags by retail stores.

House and Senate negotiators dropped the proposal Friday from the compromise version of an environmental bond bill now awaiting final votes in the Legislature.

The Senate had included the ban in its version of the bill.

More than 80 cities and towns have moved to eliminate single-use plastic bags, including Dartmouth and Boston.  Boston's ban takes effect later this year while the ban in Dartmouth takes effect in 2019.

.Emily Norton, director of the Massachusetts chapter of the Sierra Club, said in a statement the group was very disappointed that lawmakers did not include the statewide ban.

Norton said plastic bags are almost never recycled and often end up as litter in our parks, roadways and waterways, where they ``harm or kill wildlife and marine animals.''