Future archeologists who stumble upon the annals of local government, circa 2012, may find this era remarkable for the things we tried to get rid of: enormous sodas, small plastic water bottles, public swearing, fatty food, loud leaf blowers.

Chelsea, Lynn, and Brookline have joined Cambridge and made the news, with the coverage sometimes favorable and sometimes mocking, for passing bans that tried to make their residents healthier, quieter, more environmental. But the expanding list of potentially prohibited food, drink, and noise has spawned its own debate: Do the bans work? And are they necessary?

“The best thing you can say for them is that they are inefficient and amount to little more than symbolic actions,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of the conservative Pioneer Institute in Boston, who finds the food and beverage bans particularly objectionable. “Then there is the fact that they intrude on people’s liberties.”

Many of the bans aim to make their communities healthier, as childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the last 30 years. Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Lynn, and Needham have all banned trans fats, an ingredient in processed foods that has been linked to heart disease.

Cambridge is also considering shrinking the size of sodas and other sugary beverages, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed to great controversy in New York City. This spring, regulations proposed by the state’s Public Health Council that would have banned some school bake sales were rejected by Governor Deval Patrick, after schools and community groups complained they needed the sales to raise money.

Among the doubters is Jeffrey Miron, senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies in Harvard University’s economics department, who says that using government to restrict access to some fattening foods doesn’t work.