Help Our Orcas and Marine Wildlife: Support a Plastic Bag Ban in Seattle
The Sierra Club is part of a coalition with Surfrider Foundation, People For Puget Sound, Environment Washington and Zero Waste Seattle that is asking the Seattle City Council to pass a bag ordinance. Plastics harm (choke, poison, entangle) our wildlife, such as birds, fish, and whales. A big problem is that plastic bags are light-weight and easily blow into our waters. They break down into tiny bits but don’t biodegrade for hundreds of years. The tiny pieces of plastic, including plastic bag pieces, are called microplastics, and are floating in Puget Sound. Every water sample taken in Puget Sound so far by researchers at UW Tacoma have plastic bits. Another problem is that plastic attracts toxic chemicals like a sponge. Fish eat these plastic bits.
Recently, a gray whale was found dead with ten platic bags in its stomach. That's a big wake up call for us about how our plastic bag habit is affecting the whale population of Puget Sound.
The goal of the city’s proposed single-use carryout bag ordinance is to eliminate the use of single-use bags in order to reduce marine debris and limit waste sent to the landfill. In Seattle, consumers use 292 million plastic bags every year. It's time for Seattle to join Portland, Bellingham, China and numerous other cities, counties and countries who have taken actions to reduce the use of plastic bags. The proposed Seattle bag ordinance would prohibit retailers from providing light-weight, single-use plastic carryout bags to customers at the point of sale. This includes any plastic carryout bag less than 2.25 mil thick, including bio-based plastic bags made from plant sources such as corn. The ordinance would also impose a 5 cent fee on recyclable paper carry-out bags. Stores would keep the 5 cent fee. Revenues generated by sales of paper bags remain with the stores. Exempt are produce bags (veggie bags), bags for frozen food, meat, and small items. Also dry cleaner, newspaper bags are exempted.
It's easy to bring your own bag and people all across the globe do it. We can do it in Seattle!
