SPREAD THE WORD

Campaigns/Get Involved

Rise Above Plastic
Pledge your support to Rise Above Plastics with the Surfrider Foundation.

S.U.P.E.R. PLEDGE
Become a SUPER HERO with the Plastic Pollution Coalition. Take the Single-Use Plastic Emergency Response (S.U.P.E.R.) pledge.

Kid Safe Campaign
Please sign this petition to demand that Congress take action to make chemicals in consumer products kid-safe. The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act would require that all chemicals be proven safe for children before they can be sold.

WRITING LETTERS and MAKING CALLS WORKS!

To get started, we invite you to copy and paste from the letters below and send them to your local business owners, elected officials and friends. This is a great way to start a plastic bag reduction campaign in your community. Feel free to adjust them to fit your needs to start other campaigns as well.

Letter to Business Owners

Dear _______,

As one of _____'s regular customers, I am writing to ask you to change your policies regarding single-use plastic bags, and to join in with Ikea, Costco, Whole Foods and other retailers either by 1) offering a $.05 or $.10 credit per bag for customers who bring their own and/or 2) introducing a .15 cent fee on single-use plastic bags. You'll both save money and make your business more environmentally responsible!

Introduced just 25 years ago, single-use plastic bags have become environmental menaces. They are now consumed at an unprecedented rate of about 1 million per minute! These bags often wind up in waterways or on the landscape, becoming eyesores and worse, and degrading water and soil as they break down into tiny toxic bits. Their manufacture, transportation and disposal use large quantities of non-renewable resources and release equally large amounts of global warming gases. Ecologically, hundreds of thousands of marine animals die every year when they mistake plastic bags for food. And paper bags, unless made of 100% recycled content, have been proven to have as many negative impacts as plastic ones.

It doesn't have to be this way—and it's changing all over the world! The Irish government, as one of many examples, introduced (in cooperation with retailers) a plastic bag tax that has slashed consumption over 90% and raised $9.6 million for environmental and waste management projects.

Charging for disposable bags and rewarding the use of reusable bags works. It saves consumer dollars, saves retailer dollars, saves the environment, and promotes cooperation between public and private sectors. Won't you please consider getting on board? I would love to help with this in any way I can. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, ________

Letter to Your Elected Official

Dear ________,

Disposable single-use plastic bags, introduced just 25 years ago, are currently consumed at an alarming global rate of 500 billion per year. As a concerned citizen and constituent of ___________, I am writing to ask you to consider introducing legislature that taxes these bags, a solution proven effective around the world.

Single-use disposable bags present an insidious threat to our environment on multiple levels. They often wind up in waterways or on the landscape, becoming eyesores and degrading water and soil as they break down into tiny toxic bits. Their manufacture, transportation and disposal use large quantities of non-renewable resources and release equally large amounts of global-warming gases. Ecologically, hundreds of thousands of marine animals die every year when they eat plastic bags mistaken for food.

These problems can be mitigated by simply advocating—and legislating—the consumption of fewer disposable bags and the use or reusable ones. One easy way to do this is by charging for their usage at the point of purchase. This was successfully done in Ireland where the government introduced a plastic bag tax (PlasTax) that has slashed consumption over 90% and raised $9.6 million for environmental and waste management projects. Retailers were happy, as well: they both saved the costs of bag purchases and improved their public image by doing the right thing.

Please consider legislation for a PlasTax here in our home state. It creates a foundation for both consumer responsibility and market-based solutions to environmental problems. And it's an easy, win-win solution to a problem that has gotten out of control.

Sincerely, ________

Letter to a Friend

Dear ______,

Want to learn why you should be even more outraged by the pervasiveness of plastics in our culture, and then learn what it is you can do to live a more plastic-free life? Then you should see Bag It, an engaging new documentary about plastic bags, plastic politics, single-use disposables, how plastics are affecting the health of our oceans and the health of our own bodies. Bag It is the story of Jeb, an average guy who begins by asking where a single plastic bag from the grocery store will end up—and ends up traveling the world to find out how plastic pollution and chemistry alter not only our environment but our bodies and our children's bodies as well.

I recommend this film for kids and adults alike, as it asks us to listen to the facts and figures and then to consider changing the way we think, feel, and act regarding plastic products, plastic packaging, plastic garbage and plastic pollution. The film also offers some concrete solutions that we can all incorporate into our lives, making our lives both simpler and healthier.

All the best, ________