CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – In an effort to combat litter, some city councilors in Chicopee want to ban nip bottles of alcohol.
Ward 9 City Councilor Mary Beth Costello said she’s looking into a ban on sales of nip bottles altogether as a way to curb trash.
“There’s a nip bottle right there,” before the interview could start Martha Mara from Chicopee was able to spot a small bottle on the ground. City Councilor Costello said she wants them gone, something she and Ward 6 City Councilor Derek Dobosz brought up during a city council meeting this week.
“As one councilor said, the trash with the nips is disgusting so we want to address that. The second part of the reason to ban the nips is for public safety,” said Costello.
Costello added the nip bottles can impair someone’s judgement whether they are driving or walking. She wants to see if banning sales of nip bottles will stop them from showing up on the side of road. However, Mara thinks there are other ways.
“There’s too much regulation going on with stuff like that. I think they ought to do some kind of fining if they can catch people, but not banning sales,” expressed Mara.
Suzanne Cote of Chicopee thinks there should be an incentive for picking them up, “Maybe if they started charging them a nickel for a deposit or something, maybe that would help.”
Whatever your thoughts are, Costello hopes to encourage a discussion, “No one has said leave it as it is. Everybody seems to want to discuss what do we do with the nips, where do we go from here.” Costello added she hopes to bring this discussion to the city’s license commission.
