Joseph Roberts wants Barrington to think about banning plastic grocery bags.

“Not all plastic bags,” said the political science professor at Roger Williams University. “I just want a ban on the ones used at places such as Shaw’s or used for takeout food.”

Roberts, who serves on the Barrington Conservation Commission, will pitch his idea first to that board at its March meeting. He had planned to do it at last Tuesday’s meeting, but he could only stay for a few minutes and agreed to table the idea for a month.

“I think we should start a discussion in Barrington,” Robert said. “I think the Conservation Commission is a nice forum to get it started.”

If there is interest in banning the bags in that group, he said, it could present the proposal to the Town Council for a possible ordinance and public hearing.

Roberts said he knows of one other town in New England with such a ban: Westport, Conn.

“They’ve had it for several years,” he said. “There was a little opposition at first. Now people seem to be okay with it.”

Roberts describes himself as “pro-environment, but not an activist.”  His idea definitely has an “environmental aspect,” he said, and he believes it could be better for businesses as well.

“The bags don’t break down, they last forever in a landfill,” he said. “And businesses would not have to purchase them for their customers.”

Businesses would have to buy more expensive paper bags, however, or really push reusable bags. So, his proposal will probably live or die if people in Barrington believe that banning the plastic grocery bags is an idea whose time has come.

“It would be nice to be the first town in Rhode Island to do this,” he said.