In Sandwich, would nip bottle ban make roads safer, cleaner? Town meeting voters to decide

As Sandwich resident Dan Tanner strolled down Quaker Meetinghouse Road in 2022, he counted how many miniature bottles of alcohol, or nips, he plucked off the ground.

"I picked up 88 nip bottles in a quarter of a mile," Tanner said.

Since then, Tanner has taken a closer look at why people are discarding plastic and glass nip bottles on Sandwich sidewalks and roads.

"The bottles are littered because they must be," he said. Open nips in vehicles invoke an automatic fine if detected by police, he said.

Sandwich voters will have 23 articles to review during the annual town meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Sandwich Middle High School at 270 Quaker Meeting House Road in East Sandwich.

Included is Article 22, a proposed ban on nip sales sponsored by Tanner.

Also on the warrant are proposed amendments to the town charter; whether to approve capital improvement planning funds; an increase in local room occupancy tax; and a decision to change definitions associated with fowl and quadrupeds.

Historically, Sandwich has turned its nose up at single-use plastic water bottle bans, said Town Clerk Taylor White. Which is why Article 22 could "gin up" some discussion, he said. Area liquor store owners say the proposed nip bottle ban hurts small businesses. For Tanner, nips are not only dangerous to the environment but also to town residents.

"Having thousands of nip bottles available for sale absolutely encourages drunk driving," he said. "And I think it's time to do something about it to make our streets safer."

How dangerous are single-use nip bottles?

Article 22 seeks to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages in containers that are equal to or less than 50 milliliters in volume. Article 22 also seeks to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages in containers that are equal to or less than 100 milliliters in volume. The article seeks to have the bans go into effect in 2024.

Nip bottles typically contain 50 milliliters of alcohol.

Other bottle bans — specifically single-use plastic water bottle bans — have appeared on the town warrant before, said White, but all have failed.

"In 2020, a plastic water bottle ban did pass," White said. But the country was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 150 people at town meeting, he said. "The effective date was a year later and in the interim the ban was overturned."

Towns throughout Cape Cod have enacted bans on the sale of nips including Brewster, Falmouth, Mashpee, and nearby towns like Plymouth and Wareham.

For Tanner, nip littering is an issue. But he's more concerned with saving lives, he said. In his opinion, people buy nips because the tiny bottles can be concealed from police officers while they are driving. People can "chug nips," said Tanner, and then quickly throw them out the vehicle's window. That way, if they are pulled over, they won't be violating state open container laws. In Massachusetts, it's against the law to have access to an open container of alcohol while driving, according to the state Alcohol Beverages Control Commission.

Does banning nips encourages larger purchases?

Manager of Sandwich Package Store Tejas Patel said banning nips will only encourage people to buy bottles that are bigger than nips, but small enough to conceal.

"People can still drink them fast and throw them out the window," said Patel. "There will be more accidents and more problems."

Patrons often buy nips and beer together. The nip ban would only encourage patrons to go to Bourne to buy nips — but also to buy beer. The ban, he said, will hurt local businesses far more than Tanner can imagine.

Tanner argues that one liquor store that he didn't name makes $80,000 a year in nip sales.

Patel said that Sandwich Package Store earns $0.25 cents per Smirnoff and Fireball nip. For a brand like Jack Daniels, the nips cost more.

"Either ban nips altogether across New England or don't ban them at all," said Patel. "Town-to-town bans will only hurt local business."

Spur of the moment purchase

Tanner has heard this argument before, he said. But through his research, he said nips are spur of the moment purchases. Often, workers go to lunch and they have a short period of time to grab a submarine sandwich, and "a bunch of nips," said Tanner.

"They won't have time to go to an adjacent town," said Tanner. "The more towns with bans, the further people would have to go to buy nips."

Patel likened the nip ban to the 2019 state ban on menthol cigarettes, and other flavored vaping and tobacco products. Gas station owners throughout the Cape, he said, travel to New Hampshire and buy menthol cigarettes like Newports and then sell them under the table at their shops. That means money is flooding right out of the local area.

Small businesses selling nips, said Patel, isn't the source of the littering problem either. It's corporations that package their products in plastic, he said. There are just as many to-go coffee cups strewn about Sandwich, as there are nips, he said.

Perhaps a nip ban will affect liquor store owners, said Tanner. But he's confident, a nip ban won't drive liquor stores out of business.

"They are simply putting their profit over our safety," said Tanner.

New voting method

According to White, new handheld voting devices, known as clickers, will be used for the first time at town meeting. The clickers, said White, will feature easy-to-use yes and no buttons. Traditionally, voters are equipped with paper ballots.

What is a town meeting?

A town meeting is both an event and an entity, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth's website. As an event, it is a gathering of a town’s eligible voters, and is referred to as “the town meeting.” As an entity, it is the legislative body for towns in Massachusetts, and is referred to simply as “town meeting.” Thirteen of the 15 Cape Cod towns including Eastham have “open town meetings,” meaning all voters who live in that town may vote on all matters.

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Will Sandwich ban nip sales at liquor stores? The vote is May 6.