Alderman Lennon,
My name is Morgan Dean, I'm a policy intern at Environment Massachusetts. I am also a citizen who wants our rivers and ocean to stay pristine. Everyone in Massachusetts wants a more beautiful state and healthier waters, and I am writing to tell you that a ban on plastic bags is needed.
Retailers spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to provide single-use bags to customers. Supermarkets can spend up to $6,000 a month just to provide single-use bags to their customers at checkout. Even major retailers such as Target and CVS are realizing this significant cost burden. Stores typically pay 2 to 5 cents per plastic bag, and these costs are then passed on to consumers.
As a member of Environment Massachusetts and a citizen of our world, I am also concerned with the environmental impacts of plastic bag pollution. Plastic bags are one of the leading components of plastic pollution in our waterways, threatening our marine environment. Plastic bags clog drains and gutters before they make their way into our streams and rivers, eventually entering the ocean. Wildlife, like turtles, birds or whales, can choke or starve to death with a full stomach when they ingest plastic bags. The bags do not biodegrade; rather, they break down into tiny toxic pieces of plastic that circulate through the marine food chain- which includes us.
Our state depends on the ocean for everything from fishing to tourism. Protecting our water is vital to our way of life.
Nothing we use for just five minutes should fill our waterways with trash for thousands of years. Newton can be a leader for the environment and set a precedent for the rest of Massachusetts to follow by getting rid of plastic bags.
Please, help save our environment by supporting a ban on plastic bags.
Thank you,
Morgan Dean
Policy Intern, Environment Massachusetts
www.environmentmassachusetts.com
My name is Morgan Dean, I'm a policy intern at Environment Massachusetts. I am also a citizen who wants our rivers and ocean to stay pristine. Everyone in Massachusetts wants a more beautiful state and healthier waters, and I am writing to tell you that a ban on plastic bags is needed.
Retailers spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to provide single-use bags to customers. Supermarkets can spend up to $6,000 a month just to provide single-use bags to their customers at checkout. Even major retailers such as Target and CVS are realizing this significant cost burden. Stores typically pay 2 to 5 cents per plastic bag, and these costs are then passed on to consumers.
As a member of Environment Massachusetts and a citizen of our world, I am also concerned with the environmental impacts of plastic bag pollution. Plastic bags are one of the leading components of plastic pollution in our waterways, threatening our marine environment. Plastic bags clog drains and gutters before they make their way into our streams and rivers, eventually entering the ocean. Wildlife, like turtles, birds or whales, can choke or starve to death with a full stomach when they ingest plastic bags. The bags do not biodegrade; rather, they break down into tiny toxic pieces of plastic that circulate through the marine food chain- which includes us.
Our state depends on the ocean for everything from fishing to tourism. Protecting our water is vital to our way of life.
Nothing we use for just five minutes should fill our waterways with trash for thousands of years. Newton can be a leader for the environment and set a precedent for the rest of Massachusetts to follow by getting rid of plastic bags.
Please, help save our environment by supporting a ban on plastic bags.
Thank you,
Morgan Dean
Policy Intern, Environment Massachusetts
www.environmentmassachusetts.com
No comments:
Post a Comment