GREENFIELD — A split City Council turned down a proposed plastic bag ban Wednesday, following lengthy debate and a suggestion that the question be put before voters.

The proposal was rejected in a non-binding referendum three years ago, but was presented this year for a council vote.

The vote was five in favor and six against. Seven votes in favor were nede needed seven votes to pass.

Councilor Brickett Allis said he couldn’t see a difference between the ordinance proposed three years ago and the latest one proposed.

“The only thing that’s changed since then is time, and I don’t know if the amount of time that passed has changed the minds of the majority of voters,” Allis said. “I can’t vote against that tonight. I think it should go before voters in the referendum process.”

Similarly, Wanda Pyfrom said while she personally voted for the ban, she didn’t feel comfortable voting on behalf of people who voted against the ban three years ago.

“I don’t feel comfortable to vote for the people and force discipline on people. They have the right to choose,” Pyfrom said. “Maybe next time be more aggressive with the education of the plastic bags. We have conversations about this all the time at home.”

Councilor Isaac Mass said he uses the plastic bags for other purposes than just carrying groceries, and found value in them.

“I use the plastic bags from Big Y and use them when kids went from Federal Street School to the YMCA to go swimming and had them put their swim clothes in them so the rest of their paperwork didn’t get wet,” Mass said to illustrate his point.

He added that he would be willing to have the Greenfield DPW transport plastic bags to places where they could be recycled.

Councilor Timothy Dolan favored the ban, saying it is a matter of a personal responsibility.

“There is a cost to the retailer and there is a much more significant cost to the clean-up, and we’re breaking the cycle,” Dolan said.

Councilor Ashli Stempel said using plastic bags is a behavior that can end, and that “plastic bags are not important.”

“Behaviors can be changed and so I think we have so much more going for Greenfield than plastic bags that I look forward to supporting this amended ordinance,” Stempel said. “It’s really important to me that we continue to be a leader. It is a good first step in the right direction.”

Councilor Douglas Mayo said he wanted to think about the future, and although he doesn’t have grandchildren “I want a world where grandchildren can survive.”

“As a person who picked up 400 bags of trash on four streets and I picked up a lot of plastic bags, it does make an impact,” Mayo said. “It makes a difference how people view this town. People come to this town because it is green and people make a commitment to continue ‘greening’ this town.”

This is the second time in recent years that environmental advocates have pushed for such a ban.

The proposed ordinance would have banned retail locations from using disposable plastic bags where customers check out. They would be required to provide either recyclable paper bags, reusable bags or approved compostable plastic bags.

An amendment passed by the council allowed businesses to determine whether or not to charge for paper bags

The proposal specifies that reusable bags must be designed to be reused at least 125 times.

Plastic bags used by laundries and dry-cleaners, newspaper bags or bags used to contain or wrap frozen food, meat or fish or bags used by pharmacies, for a customer purchasing medication, would not be affected.

In 2015, a citizen-written ordinance was proposed to ban plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic foam containers in the city.

Members of the citizens’ group Greenfield Rights of Nature, an environmental advocacy group, pushed for the ordinance’s approval for months. A non-binding ballot question in November of 2015 revealed voters were not ready for plastic bags or bottles to be banned.

Single-use, plastic foam containers were banned by the City Council in 2016, but not plastic bags or single-use bottles.