Upper Merion will ban plastic bags and utensils beginning in 2024

Starting next year, Upper Merion Township businesses will no longer be able to give out plastic bags and utensils.

The township’s Board of Supervisors last week unanimously passed the ban on plastic single-use bags, straws, and utensils.

The ordinance also bans polystyrene food service products, which include foam boxes used for takeout food.

Upper Merion’s ordinance against single-use plastics will include the King of Prussia Mall, among the largest indoor malls in the country.

The ban on bags, straws, and foam boxes starts Jan. 1, 2024, and the ban on utensils will take effect in July 2024.

According to Penn Environment, a nonprofit advocacy group, the ban in Upper Merion could eliminate 68 tons of plastic every year — equivalent to more than 10 million plastic bags.

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Upper Merion joins 19 other towns and boroughs in Pennsylvania that have passed bans on plastic products in an effort to reduce waste.

In June, neighboring Lower Merion Township unanimously adopted an ordinance against single-use plastic carry-out bags.

Narberth — also in Montgomery County — has banned plastic straws and placed a 10-cent charge on plastic bags since 2019. And in March, Radnor Township in Delaware County also implemented a plastic bag ban.

The city of Philadelphia began phasing out plastic bags in 2021, and the full ban went into effect April 2022. The ban has saved 200 million plastic bags since its inception, according to a city-commissioned report.

In New Jersey, single-use bags and foam products are banned statewide.

Scientists say single-use plastic products can harm the environment and health because they can take hundreds of years to break down and release toxic chemicals in the process.