Surfrider Foundation - CT Chapter
Rise Above Plastic (RAP) Worldwide Campaign Overview
Single-use grocery bags create unnecessary environmental threats. The lightweight bags are common litter, easily blown around, and often end up in trees and waterways. Single-use bags and their degraded particles threaten wildlife through entanglement and ingestion. It is time to phase out single-use bags in exchange for sustainable, reusable bags at the checkout counter.
In response to strong public support and leadership by local municipalities to reduce plastic bag pollution, the General Assembly is now considering legislation that would enact a five-cent fee on throwaway bags used at the checkout. Bags used for other purposes (deli meats, newspapers, etc.) and restaurants would be exempted. Proceeds from the fee would go toward funding recycling and other environmental programs at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Policies Help Reduce Plastic Bag Pollution:
Surfrider helped Westport, CT approve the first single-use bag ban in nearly two decades east of the Mississippi, and governments across the country and around the world are taking action on single-use bag pollution. In 2002, Ireland enacted an incredibly successful program to reduce single-use bag litter by adopting a small fee on single-use bags at the checkout counter. This policy resulted in a 90% reduction of throwaway bag use in one year! The Reusable Bag Promotion Act (HB 5215) can reduce single-use bag pollution and provide critical support for recycling and environmental programs.
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