Ban Miniature Liquor Bottles (Nips) in Plymouth, MA
Help the town of Plymouth pass Article 15: Prohibiting Miniature Liquor Bottles
Update 1/16/2024
On January 13th, 2024 the Plymouth nips ban was overturned at a special election town meeting. The vote to repeal the measure passed by 165 votes, according to the town clerk's office, with 3,682 against the ban and 3,517 in favor of allowing it to take effect.
However, the chapter is not counting this as a loss, as they will be meeting with local advocates on next steps and how to move forward. Stay tuned for how you can join the chapter and get involved.
Update 10/23/2023: VICTORY
Last night, Plymouth's representative Town Meeting (162 members) passed a nip ban with votes 72 vs 67. Despite competing against a highly organized campaign by the liquor industry, grassroots prevailed. The Massachusetts Chapter is grateful for the work of local activists that turned this campaign into a victory.
August 2023
Volunteers from our Massachusetts Chapter are supporting local activists in the Town of Plymouth to prohibit the sale of miniature alcohol containers, also known as nips. At their October 2023 Fall Annual Town Meeting, Plymouth residents will be voting on Article 15, which would prohibit the sale of alcohol in containers of 100 mL or less in size.
The overuse of disposable plastic items and their subsequent escape into the environment risks the health and sustainability of coastal ecosystems, and by extension, the physical and fiscal health of the communities who rely on them. While personal choices and education do matter, plastic pollution should be recognized as a systemic problem requiring a collective response.
Even among disposable plastic consumer items, miniature liquor bottles (‘miniatures’) stand out as an especially unnecessary and difficult-to-manage item. They are NOT recyclable through residential or municipal programs because they are too small to be efficiently handled by sorting equipment. More importantly, more cost- effective and material-efficient packaging options (i.e., larger containers) are readily available, commonly used, and have been successfully substituted in numerous cases.
Plymouth would follow at least 11 other communities in MA in prohibiting miniatures. City officials in Chelsea, MA – among the first to implement a ban in 2018 – have credited the measure for a dramatic drop in the number of alcohol-related emergency calls and intoxicated persons being taken into protective custody. This has reduced strain on public safety services and freed city resources for improved social services and neighborhood revitalization. Chelsea officials have also described the ban as being an “immediate overnight success” in reducing litter. At the same time, a Chelsea liquor store license sold in 2022 for 5x its pre-COVID value, showing the continued viability of these businesses despite the absence of miniature liquor bottles.
Besides directly benefiting the communities in which policies are implemented, there has been a strong tendency over the past decade for effective measures to spread from town-to-town in MA. This means a collective benefit extending well beyond the scale of any one municipality, and being part of the larger case for support that is often a prerequisite for action at larger scales of government.
If you are interested in learning more about this campaign, are a Plymouth resident wanting to get directly involved, or want to pursue a similar action in your city or town, please reach out to the MA Chapter’s Campaigns Coordinator campaigns@ma.surfrider.org who can provide more information and/or help make connections to local contacts.