Dr. Madhavi Venkatesan, a nonresident and the founder and executive director of Sustainable Practices, was allowed to speak at October Town Meeting in favor of the plastic water bottle ban in Mashpee.

Dr. Madhavi Venkatesan, a nonresident and the founder and executive director of Sustainable Practices, was allowed to speak at October Town Meeting in favor of the plastic water bottle ban in Mashpee.

As a petition to repeal the ban of single-use plastic water bottles at the upcoming May Town Meeting circulates around Mashpee, advocates for the ban are hoping Mashpee town voters will keep the regulation intact.

Residents voted 104-102 to ban the commercial buying and selling of single-use plastic water bottles at Town Meeting in October.

The regulation is set to go into effect in September.

Some residents opposed to the ban began collecting signatures late last month to add an article to the May Town Meeting warrant that would repeal the ban before it goes into effect.

Those who oppose the ban have expressed support for increased recycling to address pollution and other environmental issues that plastic water bottles can cause.

Virginia N. Scharfenberg, one of the petitioners behind the original water bottle ban, said that while increasing Mashpee’s recycling capabilities might seem like a good idea, the tactic will not fix the issue of nonbiodegradable plastics in the town’s natural water systems and might have other adverse consequences.

“Only about 9 percent of plastic water bottles are actually recycled,” she said, referencing a 2018 statistic from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

As of last year, the recycling of plastic cost the town $140 per ton, according to a figure Ms. Scharfenberg said Mashpee Director of Public Works Catherine E. Laurent shared with her.

“What blew me away about that is that we even have a ton of plastic,” Ms. Scharfenberg said. “It’s the enormity of the problem that struck me.”

In addition to the cost of recycling, Dr. Madhavi Venkatesan, founder and executive director of the environmental and economic advocacy group Sustainable Practices—the nonprofit organization that has driven the Cape Cod Plastic Bottle Ban—discussed the environmental and public health impacts that recycling can have.

“These products were not originally designed to be recycled,” she said. “One thing that we’re not prepared for is a high carcinogenic impact of recycling.”

In years past, Dr. Venkatesan explained, the recycling industry has relied heavily on China importing most American recyclables to process in plants within the country.

However, recently China has begun imposing restrictions on recycled metals and plastics, leaving the United States, the largest producer of plastic waste in the world, without a comprehensive system to deal with recyclable waste, she said.

“When recycling starts to happen here, it’s going to affect marginalized communities,” Dr. Venkatesan said, explaining that most recycling plants—which produce carcinogens—will likely be built in poor areas of the South. “We’re going to be harming our own citizens, just for us to promote this false perception that we can solve this issue.”

Dr. Venkatesan also said Mashpee residents should be aware of and concerned about the health effects of plastic leaching into water from water bottles.

All 15 towns on Cape Cod have introduced municipal bans on single-use plastic bottles, eliminating town purchase and sale of beverages in plastic containers and on town property.

The commercial ban, which prohibits buying and selling single-use plastic water bottles in all businesses in town, has been passed in 10 towns on Cape Cod. A ban was passed in Sandwich and was later repealed.

“We’re in a unique position on Cape Cod because we’re a self-contained community in that we’re over the bridge,” Ms. Scharfenberg said. “Anything that one town does can certainly have an impact on another. Especially if towns collaborate on environmental efforts, it is much more impactful and effective for the public.”

In response to anti-ban advocates who have questioned why the ban focuses on water, rather than unhealthy drinks such as soda, Dr. Venkatesan said the ban is about the container, not the content.

“The only reason we went after single-use plastic water bottles is because we recognize that was going to be a learning curve with regard to plastics,” she said. “Water is easily substituted, and tap water is more regulated than water in bottles.”

She added that if people knew they were going to be drinking municipal water, they would be more vigilant about protecting that water source.

“Water is a very available source for us here on the Cape, and it’s just how you choose to contain it,” Ms. Scharfenberg said. “It’s just a change in habit.”

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