Reduce the Use of Plastic Bags in New York City
If you're dismayed by the sight of plastic bags hanging off neighborhood trees, lining gutters and strewn on New York streets, it's time to take action.
THE GOAL
Petition the City to act now and impose taxes on stores that continue to provide customers with plastic bags. The stores, in turn, should charge customers to use their bags and should be required to sell reusable bags.
THE FACTS
The New York Times reports, "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has called for charging shoppers 6 cents for every plastic bag needed at the register. If the proposal passes, New York City would follow the lead of many European countries and become one of the first places in the United States to assess a so-called plastic bag tax....Just a few weeks after Ireland adopted a similar, though much heftier tax in 2002 — charging shoppers 33 cents a bag — plastic bag use dropped 94 percent, and within a year, nearly everyone in that country had purchased reusable cloth bags." (Source, In Mayor’s Plan, the Plastic Bag Will Carry a Fee, Nov. 6 2008, By DAVID W. CHEN)
However, large stores do not need to wait for laws to pass before they take action. The article continues, "The Ikea furniture chain... began charging customers 5 cents for each plastic bag in 2007; since then, the store says, plastic bag use has been cut in half. Several large supermarket chains in the region, like Whole Foods Markets, offer refunds when customers bring reusable bags."
Mayor Bloomberg’s plans have not moved forward. Politicians need to know that we are behind them and support them and that it is time to take action. Despite the economic woes, buying and stashing a few reusable bags would be a trivial expense. The inconvenience of remembering to take them when shopping is also trivial--an inconvenience that quickly becomes a habit. Weigh this against the impact of saying, ‘No, thanks. I have my own bags’: New Yorkers would be helping to beautify our city; protect our wildlife and nature from choking on plastic; and reduce carbon emissions in the manufacturing of plastic.
Sign this petition to let our representatives know that we now demand action: Act to reduce the use of plastic bags in New York City!
If you're dismayed by the sight of plastic bags hanging off neighborhood trees, lining gutters and strewn on New York streets, it's time to take action.
THE GOAL
Petition the City to act now and impose taxes on stores that continue to provide customers with plastic bags. The stores, in turn, should charge customers to use their bags and should be required to sell reusable bags.
THE FACTS
The New York Times reports, "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has called for charging shoppers 6 cents for every plastic bag needed at the register. If the proposal passes, New York City would follow the lead of many European countries and become one of the first places in the United States to assess a so-called plastic bag tax....Just a few weeks after Ireland adopted a similar, though much heftier tax in 2002 — charging shoppers 33 cents a bag — plastic bag use dropped 94 percent, and within a year, nearly everyone in that country had purchased reusable cloth bags." (Source, In Mayor’s Plan, the Plastic Bag Will Carry a Fee, Nov. 6 2008, By DAVID W. CHEN)
However, large stores do not need to wait for laws to pass before they take action. The article continues, "The Ikea furniture chain... began charging customers 5 cents for each plastic bag in 2007; since then, the store says, plastic bag use has been cut in half. Several large supermarket chains in the region, like Whole Foods Markets, offer refunds when customers bring reusable bags."
Mayor Bloomberg’s plans have not moved forward. Politicians need to know that we are behind them and support them and that it is time to take action. Despite the economic woes, buying and stashing a few reusable bags would be a trivial expense. The inconvenience of remembering to take them when shopping is also trivial--an inconvenience that quickly becomes a habit. Weigh this against the impact of saying, ‘No, thanks. I have my own bags’: New Yorkers would be helping to beautify our city; protect our wildlife and nature from choking on plastic; and reduce carbon emissions in the manufacturing of plastic.
Sign this petition to let our representatives know that we now demand action: Act to reduce the use of plastic bags in New York City!
We the undersigned:
PETITION OUR REPRESENTATIVES: To Act Now to Reduce the Use of Plastic Bags in New York City
If you're dismayed by the sight of plastic bags hanging off neighborhood trees, lining gutters and strewn on New York streets, it's time to take action.
THE GOAL
Petition the City to act now and impose taxes on stores that continue to provide customers with plastic bags. The stores, in turn, should charge customers to use their bags and should be required to sell reusable bags.
THE FACTS
The New York Times reports, "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has called for charging shoppers 6 cents for every plastic bag needed at the register. If the proposal passes, New York City would follow the lead of many European countries and become one of the first places in the United States to assess a so-called plastic bag tax....Just a few weeks after Ireland adopted a similar, though much heftier tax in 2002 %u2014 charging shoppers 33 cents a bag %u2014 plastic bag use dropped 94 percent, and within a year, nearly everyone in that country had purchased reusable cloth bags." (Source, In Mayor%u2019s Plan, the Plastic Bag Will Carry a Fee, Nov. 6 2008, By DAVID W. CHEN)
However, large stores do not need to wait for laws to pass before they take action. The article continues, "The Ikea furniture chain... began charging customers 5 cents for each plastic bag in 2007; since then, the store says, plastic bag use has been cut in half. Several large supermarket chains in the region, like Whole Foods Markets, offer refunds when customers bring reusable bags."
Mayor Bloomberg%u2019s plans have not moved forward. Politicians need to know that we are behind them and support them and that it is time to take action. Despite the economic woes, buying and stashing a few reusable bags would be a trivial expense. The inconvenience of remembering to take them when shopping is also trivial--an inconvenience that quickly becomes a habit. Weigh this against the impact of saying, %u2018No, thanks. I have my own bags%u2019: New Yorkers would be helping to beautify our city; protect our wildlife and nature from choking on plastic; and reduce carbon emissions in the manufacturing of plastic.
Sign this petition to let our representatives know that we now demand action: Act to reduce the use of plastic bags in New York City!
Thank you for taking the time to read our petition.
Ban plastic bags!
Let us know why this issue is important to you.
Let us know why this issue is important to you.
Let us know why this issue is important to you.
Let us know why this issue is important to you.
It is terrible to see the amount of plastic garbage that is in the ocean and killing marine life. The bags don't breakdown and pollute our environment.
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8:17 am PDT, Apr 20,
Sophie Szeferowicz, France
Please! |
NO MORE PLASTIV BULLSHIT PLEASE!! YOU ARE ALL PRODUCERS OF KILLING THE PLANET AND SHOULD BE CHARGED!! YOU MUST ONLY GIVE OR SELL REUSABLE BAGS!!! 6 Cents or 33 Cents for plastic bags is not enough, there must not be the option of plasti bags; just like there is no option for paper bags in many places... We either bring our own bag or we buy reusable!!! That is the answer and Mayor Doomborg knows it...
We Will All Distribute your idioticy to Big Media and Start Letting those “Useless Talking Heads on TV News” know what’s really worth reporting to the world… And they will Report it as we will also through our blogs.. … … I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. . I Beg all Intelligent and Responsible People to Please Stop Letting This Happen STILL.. How can you when your kids and your friend’s kids and your kids kids and your kids friends kids and so forth; Need you to stand up and take action daily for their own safety.. WE’VE GOT TO STOP THE MADNESS AND IT STARTS WITH GOVERNMENTS ALLOWING THESE TERRIBLE THINGS TO HAPPEN!! .. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. I’m sickened and disgusted. We Need Solar Powered Everything, if they’re not powered by Windmills.. No Nuclear! The Governments will continue to allow the destruction of family, of planet, of animals, and the poison of people.. Radio Active & Toxic Foods, Water, Diseases, Products, and particles in the air to ingest when we breath, UNTIL WE SCREAM LOUD ENOUGH FOR THEM TO STOP PISSING ON US ALL WITH THEIR TOXIC ADDICTIONS!! (The perfect receipt for Corporate & Government Profit)… PLEASE NO MORE ALREADY - BUSH HAS DONE SO MUCH DAMAGE so; We Need Solar Powered Everything, if they’re not powered by Windmills.. Solar and Windmills and Non-Gasoline Cars.. No Nuclear! NO MORE NUCLEAR PLEASE. NO MORE Coal-Fired Power Plants. No More Stockpiles of Nuclear Weapons. No More increasing the number of U.S. nuclear reactors! No More Uranium, NO MORE OIL DEPENDENCIES/ADDICTIONS SO NO MORE DRILLING or MINING & No More Developments…. No more Plastic Bags or Styrofoam products shipped all over the world… No More BLOODY SLAUGHTER of Precious Animals, No More Animal Clothing & Leather Shoes & Accessories, No more Palm oil products of deforestation Plant and Animal Murder.. No more animal tested surgical procedures and products for humans.. No more raising animals for food, NO MORE PESTISCIDES, NO MORE FERTALIZERS, No more War on Marijuana, or War Period.. No More Gluttonous Consumerism, NO MORE Asia, JAPAN, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Spain, Costa Rica, Korea & CHINA Trading because of the terrible total contempt for the people, environment and animals and No More Cutting Down Our Valuable Precious Trees, No More genocide, ethnocide and false imprisonment, No more ripping families apart, AND NO More Babies to give birth to.. We need to adopt babies, as importantly as we need the government to adopt “Listening to the People” with every destructional Action against the people, environment and animal species that they take.. How dare the voice of the people be shut down. We know you have a lot on your plate, but maybe you can acknowledge more of the people's concerns, and have us advise you about matters at hand...
To buy an Envirosax reusable and foldable bag costs $8 or less. I've been using the same one for years. There's no reason all consumers can't carry their own reusable bag, but unfortunately some people need to be forced into doing it. Charging for plastic bags should do the trick. I've lived in South Africa, where a plastic bag tax was very effective, almost immediately.
This is my planet.
Reduce the use of plastic bags in New York City!
cutting down on the gross overuse of plastic bags in nyc is a necessary and extremely simple way for poeple to postively impact the environment/our city.
take a drive into a nice wooded area get out of your car and walk 15 feet and see the plastic bags empty or full of trash. take a drive by a walmart and see the plastic bag trees. look at our oceans where our sea creatures live all you see is plastic and more plastic. if we dont show the importance of getting rid of these undegradable bags who will? we travel over seas to see nice clear water and ocean life and all we do here is kill it. look at new yorks water yuck!!!!
Its important to me because I care about the well being of the enviroment. I hope to stop the use of fossil fuels.
All of the fabric that falls to waste (from garment industry and individuals) could be used, as part of a city initiative, as shopping bags of various sizes and durability, thereby, Creating jobs and limiting dangerous waste. Here's to Creative Living!
North Pacific Gyre
Plastic bags seem to propagate themselves in my neighborhood. They blow into fence surrounding my building, nudge themselves into my screen door, and mark the curbs. And markets encourage this, by handing out plastic bags even with purchases of a bagel or a bottle of water. Without a tax (hopefully more hefty than 6c), we won't convince consumers or shops that plastic bags are unnecessary. Please enact this tax. Having plastic bag recycling in large grocery stores doesn't reflect the retail environment in NYC, where so many services come from small stores, and people are used to receiving plastic bags for even the smallest purchases.
