• About
    • Our Mission and Who We Are
  • Take Action
    • Group Action >
      • Join an Action Group
      • Donate
      • Volunteer
    • Individual Action >
      • Landscaping
      • What We Eat
      • Plastic Reduction >
        • Reduce Plastic
        • Plastic Bans, Taxes, Charges, Recycling
      • Milkweed for Monarchs
      • Reduce Your Carbon Footprint >
        • Choose Renewable Energy
      • Solar
      • Gas Leaks/Blowdowns in Wellesley
      • Gift Wrap
    • Global Action
    • More Action In Wellesley >
      • Other Local Organizations
      • Run For Office
  • News
  • Calendar
  • Green Schools
    • Mission and Who We Are
    • Teachers >
      • Environmental Education
      • Green Cerify your Elementary Classroom
      • Book recommendations
      • Classroom tips
      • Posters! Walk to School. Litterless lunch
    • Parents >
      • Smart Event Guide
      • Borrow Free Supplies for Your Event!
      • School Supply list
      • End of year Locker Cleanout Tips
    • Families

Something You CAN Do About Plastic – Call Your Rep!

1/31/2019

 
Picture
Call your Representative
A message from Mass Green Network to Massachusetts legislator have only two more days to co-sponsor the statewide bag bill.  Please consider calling your Representative right now asking them to sign on as a co-sponsor of an Act Reducing Plastic Bag Pollution (HD.134).

To find your Representative, click here.


Four years ago there were only seven municipalities in the State with a local bag laws. Today there are over 90, including Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Framingham, and Burlington. More than 1 in 3 Massachusetts residents lives in a city or town with a bag law. And more are coming: Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield are among the cities working on ordinances right now. The people of Massachusetts will value legislative leadership on this issue.


It is good for business:
  • The current patchwork of local regulation creates great difficulties for major retailers, and needless anxiety for small business owners.
  • They will be well served by a uniform statewide law.
  • Reducing bag use will also result in substantial savings.
  • With no bag laws, retailers in Massachusetts would spend over $145.7 million per year on plastic bags alone, and even more on paper bags.
Would reduce municipal expenditure:
  • Each month, Massachusetts produces between 100 and 125 tons of bag waste.
  • Plastic bags get caught in our single-stream recycling machinery, causing delay and damage, and contaminating materials that might be recovered.
  • Studies have concluded that the annual costs to cities and towns to subsidize litter management and debris reduction amounts to as much as $10.71 per resident. And this does not account for the indirect costs – the loss to tourism and to the fishing industry. Reducing bags will be a boon for taxpayers.
A fee for paper bags will help business owners and the poor, not harm them:
  • Paper bags are much more expensive than plastic bags.
  • Without a fee, laws typically reduce bag waste by 60 to 80%. With a modest fee, bag laws reduce both plastic and paper by more than 90%.
  • This reduces the overhead for businesses. The savings get passed on to consumers.
  • The cost of disposable bags for a family of five is about $100 per year. In contrast, ten reusable supermarket tote bags costs $10, and they last a long time indeed.
  • Remember, bags are not free – their costs are just hidden. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley agrees: bag laws protect our most vulnerable populations.
A statewide bag law will help reduce global warming:
  • The production, distribution, and disposal of shopping bags used in Massachusetts produces over 97,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
  • The debris from plastic bags in our oceans disrupt the natural processes that generate oxygen and regulate the climate.
  • Bag laws have more subtle effects too. They encourage consumers to be more thoughtful about their choices.

A statewide bag law is the simplest, cheapest, and most effective way to involve ordinary citizens in the solution to the most urgent environmental crisis of our time.


Don’t delay — call today!-Brad Verter
Founder, Mass Green Network


Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    Food
    Green Building
    Living Sustainably
    Social And Family Event
    Take Action
    Town Meeting
    Wellesley Green Schools

    RSS Feed

×
“The world is literally counting on us.”
-Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd Artist who created this climate clock.

Sign up for updates!

Get Our Newsletter

Contact

info@sustainablewellesley.com
75 Emerson Road
Tel: 781-772-1188

Support us!

Volunteer
Donate

Follow us!

Copyright © 2019 By Sustainable Wellesley
Photos used under Creative Commons from Rennett Stowe, shixart1985, vwcampin, aqua.mech
  • About
    • Our Mission and Who We Are
  • Take Action
    • Group Action >
      • Join an Action Group
      • Donate
      • Volunteer
    • Individual Action >
      • Landscaping
      • What We Eat
      • Plastic Reduction >
        • Reduce Plastic
        • Plastic Bans, Taxes, Charges, Recycling
      • Milkweed for Monarchs
      • Reduce Your Carbon Footprint >
        • Choose Renewable Energy
      • Solar
      • Gas Leaks/Blowdowns in Wellesley
      • Gift Wrap
    • Global Action
    • More Action In Wellesley >
      • Other Local Organizations
      • Run For Office
  • News
  • Calendar
  • Green Schools
    • Mission and Who We Are
    • Teachers >
      • Environmental Education
      • Green Cerify your Elementary Classroom
      • Book recommendations
      • Classroom tips
      • Posters! Walk to School. Litterless lunch
    • Parents >
      • Smart Event Guide
      • Borrow Free Supplies for Your Event!
      • School Supply list
      • End of year Locker Cleanout Tips
    • Families