Actions | Stop Global Warming

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

To: Your State House, The U.S. Senate and The U.S. House, see more...

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.

Sign the Letter

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 here]

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Address:

City:

Zip Code:

Add a Personal Message (optional)

Allow my signature to be seen by other community members.

Kelly Cleveland Denver, CO

Sent letter to Diana DeGette , Ed Perlmutter , Peter Groff , Terrance Carroll , Edward Casso , Mark Udall , Michael Bennet , Kevin Priola and Mary Hodge

Nov 21
Original Antone Wheeles Roseburg, OR

Sent letter to Marion Berry , Peter DeFazio , Ron Wyden , Wayne Krieger , Jeff Kruse , Floyd Prozanski , Bruce Hanna , Jeff Merkley and Tim Freeman

Nov 20
Nan Bongiovanni San Diego, CA

Sent letter to Duncan Hunter , Susan Davis , Dianne Feinstein , Barbara Boxer , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Christine Kehoe , Lori Saldana and Hon. Marty Block

Nov 19
Camilla Lacey Kowloon, Hong Kong

Sent letter to Richard Shelby , Jeff Sessions and Bob Riley

Nov 04
kenneth knoppik boca raton, FL

Sent letter to Bob Wexler , Bill Nelson , Charlie Crist , Tom Deutch , Kelly Skidmore and Kevin Rader

Nov 03
Barbara McNamara Joppa, MD

Sent letter to Dutch Ruppersberger , Ben Cardin , Barbara Mikulski , Martin O'Malley , Nancy Jacobs , Andrew Harris , B. Riley , Mary-Dulany James and Frank Kratovil

Nov 02
Patricia (Old Hippie Chick) Pittsburgh, PA

Sent letter to Mike Doyle , Timothy Murphy , Jason Altmire , Arlen Specter , Bob Casey , Don Walko , Harry Readshaw , Daniel Deasy and Bill Kortz

Nov 01
Pam Steele Ennis, TX

Sent letter to Joe Barton , Kay Hutchison , Barry Averitt , Jim Pitts , John Cornyn and Rick Perry

Nov 01
Edward Craig Eugene, OR

Sent letter to Debbie Wasserman Schultz , Peter DeFazio , Ron Wyden , Vicki Walker , Paul Holvey , Chris Edwards , Nancy Nathanson , Floyd Prozanski and Jeff Merkley

Oct 31
Jennifer Kirkpatrick Scappoose, OR

Sent letter to David Wu , Earl Blumenauer , Ron Wyden , John Sullivan , Mitch Greenlick , Brad Witt , Betsy Johnson , Jeff Merkley and Suzanne Bonamici

Oct 31