A western Massachusetts lawmaker has signed on to a bill to ban single-use plastic bags at stores statewide.
More than 90 Massachusetts cities and towns already ban plastic bags, according to the Sierra Club.
A bill introduced in the state Senate would make that the law across the Commonwealth.
State Senator Jo Comerford of Northampton is one of the co-sponsors. She said the ban is important to help confront global warming.
"By removing plastic bags from the waste stream, we will prevent the kind of fossil fuel use that plastic bags demand and new science tells us that the plastic bags themselves are a contributor to air pollution," Comerford said.
Comerford was referring to research published last year which found that the plastic used to make shopping bags produces two greenhouse gases when exposed to sunlight.
Plastic bag prohibitions already exist in two states: Hawaii and California.
