Introduce legislature for a tax on disposable, single-use plastic bags (PlasTax)

Targeting: The U.S. Senate, The U.S. House, The Governor, see more...

Started by: Manuela Rodrigues

The age-old question is often a tough one. Choose paper and you may contribute to the cutting down of important carbon-reducing trees. Choose plastic and your grocery bag is bound to end up in a landfill for the next one thousand years. But some places are making the age-old paper or plastic question a little bit easier: Bring your own or pay the price!

What's Wrong With Plastic? Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of birds, whales, seals and turtles are killed as a result of suffocating on plastic bags. In light of this problem, some governments have introduced a "plastax", or tax on plastic bags used at the supermarket. In 2002, Ireland launched a plastic-reducing initiative that added a 20 cent per bag tax onto each grocery bill. The revenue raised was put toward a "green fund" to support environmental projects such as recycling.

While there was some initial opposition, the national response was largely positive. And, to the delight of the Environment Ministry, consumer behavior was changed. Within the first three years of the program, the use of plastic bags went down by 90 percent while raising 3.5 million dollars for Ireland's green fund.

This program caught on in other countries where the use of plastic bags was out of control. Bangladesh, Denmark, Hong Kong, South Africa and Australia are only a few examples of countries that mandate a tax or charge for plastic bags. Even IKEA, a popular home goods store, charges 10 cents per plastic bag at its retailers in Australia. ALDI supermarket in the United States does the same - only offering empty cardboard boxes for free.

While this plastax has caught on worldwide, it hasn't seemed to spread much around the United States. We are still consuming more plastic bags than any other nation and thus contributing to a seemingly endless amount of waste in our landfills. While most major retailers now feature reusable canvas bags for sale near the checkout, the use of these re-usable bags lags in comparison to other countries. Help make it the trend to use canvas bags by using them each time you go to the grocery store. You can even order your very own organic, recycled Eco-bag over the Internet.
Together, we can say, "Good-bye!" to plastic bags!
(Article written by Jennifer B.)

Report close
You must be signed in to report content.

Petition Text

Introduce legislature for a tax on disposable, single-use plastic bags

Dear Representative

As a concerned citizen and constituent, I am writing to ask you to introduce legislature for a tax on disposable, single-use plastic bags. Introduced 25 years ago, these bags are now consumed at an astounding rate of approximately 500 billion per year globally, or 1 million per minute. It is estimated that 1% or 5 billion of these bags end up as wind blow litter each year. These bags that take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, often wind up in waterways or the landscape, becoming eyesores and eventually degrading water and soil as they break down into tiny toxic bits.

Their manufacture and disposal also uses large quantities of non-renewable resources, especially petroleum, a key ingredient in plastic. Large amounts of global warming gases are released during their production, transportation, and disposal. Environmentally, disposable plastic bags are a serious problem. Hundreds of thousands of marine animals, including endangered sea turtles, die every year when they eat plastic bags mistaken for food. Paper bags are not the answer, since independent studies show they have roughly as many negative impacts as plastic ones. These problems could be avoided by advocating the use of reusable bags instead, and the consumption of fewer disposable bags.

The negative impacts of disposable bags could be reduced easily and significantly by charging for their usage at the point of purchase. In cooperation with retailers, the Irish government introduced a plastic bag tax (PlasTax) last year that has slashed consumption over 90% and raised $9.6 million for environmental and waste management projects. Another benefit is that stores save money on bag purchases and improve their public image. For example, Superquinn, one of the largest Irish grocery chains, says the number of bags it distributes for free has dropped by 97.5%.

The PlasTax is a win-win solution to the disposable bag problem. It also helps create the foundation for consumer environmental responsibility and market-based solutions to environmental problems.

Thank you for your careful thought on this matter, and I hope, your support for a PlasTax.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Teddie Hayes Carmichael, CA

Sent letter to Dan Lungren , Dianne Feinstein , Barbara Boxer , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Dave Cox , Darrell Steinberg , Roger Niello and Hon. Alyson Huber

Dec 20, 2009
Elisabeth Kelly Washington, DC

Sent letter to Eleanor Norton and Mary Cheh

Dec 15, 2009
Peter LunaVegan Wuerzburg, CA

Sent letter to Dianne Feinstein , Barbara Boxer and Arnold Schwarzenegger

Dec 11, 2009
Maria F. Verona, Italy

Sent letter to Tom Harkin , Chet Culver and Charles Grassley

Dec 09, 2009
Laura Broenink Amersfoort, Netherlands

Sent letter to Chuck Schumer , David Paterson and Kirsten Gillibrand

Dec 08, 2009
dian wright garland, TX

Sent letter to Sam Johnson , Kay Hutchison , John Carona , Joe Driver , John Cornyn , Bob Deuell , Carol Kent and Angie Button

Dec 08, 2009
Colleen Chaos Baltimore, MD

Sent letter to Roscoe Bartlett , Dutch Ruppersberger , Ben Cardin , Barbara Mikulski , Jon Cardin , A. Kach , Dan Morhaim , Dana Stein and Frank Kratovil

Dec 08, 2009
Anneke Hut Amersfoort, Netherlands

Sent letter to Chuck Schumer , David Paterson and Kirsten Gillibrand

Dec 08, 2009
Red N. Plymouth, United Kingdom

Sent letter to Carl Levin , Debbie Stabenow and Jennifer Granholm

Dec 08, 2009
Joan E Loza Mobry Madison, WI

Sent letter to Russ Feingold , Mark Miller , Joe Parisi , Gary Hebl , Herb Kohl , Tammy Baldwin , Keith Ripp and Kelda Roys

Dec 02, 2009