Plastic Bags
by Chelsea Zero Waste Coalition
by Chelsea Zero Waste Coalition
The uncontrolled use of single-use plastics, especially plastic bags just can’t continue! It is not sustainable. Those of us who have seen the amounts of plastic film being collected at the library or senior center have had a small glimpse of the tons of plastic wrap being discarded in our small community. Those library bins are emptied 3x week and since most people don’t recycle....
What can we do? Well in 2016, when Rick Snyder was in office, Public Act 389 was passed taking all community control over the issue away: the notorious “ban on bans”. So currently we have no control other than attempting public education.
The road forward in Michigan starts with passing Senate Bill 228, introduced by our State Senator Sue Shink. The bill repeals PA 389, thereby allowing communities to restrict, prohibit or charge fees etc for plastic bags if their community enacts such an ordinance. This bill now sits in the Energy and Environment Committee of the Senate. The chairman Sean McCann (of Kalamazoo) is responsible for calling it up for a vote.
If you wish to express your concerns and urge the Chair to hold a vote, you may email Senator Sean McCann at SenSMcCann@senate.michigan.gov or call his office at 517-373-5100.
Here are some thoughts you might want to share (copy, paste or reword as you wish):
Americans use an estimated 100 billion plastic bags per year.
Most plastic bags never get recycled and instead clog up and damage recycling machinery at our recycling facilities.
They are a blight on the landscape, easily being blown into trees and bushes and littering our neighborhoods and cities.
Plastic bags don’t truly decompose but instead break down into microplastics which are contaminating our water, soil and air. There is increasing evidence that microplastics end up in our bodies and may be implicated in causing disease.
While some plastics serve specific and necessary purposes, single use plastic bags are just a way to get your groceries home-something people have been doing since long before plastic bags were invented.
PA 389 took away the ability of local communities to decide for themselves what is most beneficial for their people and natural environment. We want that control back!
More about Plastic Bags and community restrictions on them
A new study by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group, estimates that, on average, bans on single-use plastic bags can eliminate almost 300 plastic bags per person, per year. The report analyzed data from across the country and found that bans in just five locations with a combined population of more than 12 million people (New Jersey, Vermont, Philadelphia PA, Portland OR, and Santa Barbara CA) have cut single-use plastic bag consumption by about 6 billion bags per year – or enough to circle the earth 42 times.
The plastics industry is actually the fastest-growing source of industrial greenhouse gases in the world. The UN Environment Programmeestimates that the greenhouse gas emissions from plastic production, use and disposal could account for 19 percent of the total global carbon budget by 2040. Nearly all of the plastics that we use currently originate from fossil fuels.
In other states, many communities have voted to require that shoppers pay a small fee if they want a plastic bag or have disallowed plastic bags. For example:
Nationwide over 200 counties and municipalities have enacted ordinances either imposing a fee on plastic bags or banning them outright, including all counties in Hawaii and the state of California. Over 30 communities in Pennsylvania have bans or fees to reduce plastic bag use, including Pittsburgh.
https://blogs.uofi.uis.edu/view/8598/2100907936 lessons from Illinois
Pennsylvania's local laws reducing plastic waste
Plastic bag bans have already prevented billions of bags from being used, report finds - Route Fifty
Worldwide at least 32 countries outlaw plastic bags and many more impose taxes for their use.
https://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/SBR/pdfs/PlasticBagsBannedAroundWorld.pdf
If you have friends in other areas-you might share with them a request to contact their Senator especially if they sit on the Energy and Environment committee.
The other members of the Energy and Environment committee are and the basic area they represent:
Kristen McDonald Rivet (Midland/Saginaw)
Sue Shink (Washtenaw)
Sam Singh (Shiawasee)
Rosemary Bayer (Oakland)
Kevin Hertel (Macomb)
Darrin Camilleri (Wayne)
Stephanie Chang (Wayne)
Dayna Polehanki (Wayne)
Dan Lauwers(Thumb area)
John Damone (Emmett)
Rick Outman (Muskegon, Ionia)
Roger Hauck (Mt. Pleasant)
Joseph Bellinis (Hillsdale, Lenawee)