Dear Editor:
The uncontrolled use of single-use plastics, especially bags, can’t continue. It is not sustainable! It is dangerous. It is unsightly. It needs to be banned.
What can we do?
Well, in 2016, when Gov. Rick Snyder was in office, Public Act 389 was passed taking all community control over the issue away: the notorious “ban on bans”. So currently we have no control other than attempting public education.
The road forward in Michigan starts with passing Senate Bill 228, introduced by our State Senator Sue Shink. The bill repeals PA 389, thereby allowing communities to restrict, prohibit or charge fees, etc. for plastic bags if their community enacts such an ordinance.
The bill now sits in the Energy and Environment Committee of the Senate where it has been since March 2023. The Chairman Sean McCann (of Kalamazoo) is responsible for calling it up for a vote. We need to impress on Sen McCann that there are many people in MIchigan that want to have local control of this issue.
If you wish to express your concerns and urge the Chair to hold a vote:
Please email Senator Sean McCann at [email protected] and/or call his office at 517-373-5100.
It may also be helpful to contact Sen Sue Shink at [email protected] and/or call her office at 517-373-2426.
If you have contact with any of these locations such as an office or cottage, consider contacting them, too. (Midland, Saginaw, Shiawassee, Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, Thumb Area, Emmett, Muskegon, Ionia, Mt. Pleasant, Hillsdale,or Lenawee) These communities have Senators serving on the Energy and Environment Committee.
Let’s do this. Hopefully, they are hearing from people around the state. I’ve sent my emails, now on to making the phone calls.
Below are some thoughts you might want to share (copy, paste, or reword as you wish):
- Americans use an estimated 100 billion plastic bags per year.
- Most plastic bags never get recycled and instead clog up and damage recycling machinery at our recycling facilities.
- Plastic bags are a blight on the landscape, easily blown into trees and bushes and littering our neighborhoods and cities.
- Plastic bags don’t truly decompose but instead break down into microplastics which are contaminating our water, soil, and air. Animals eat these microplastics making them feel sated but get no nutrition from them, thus starving to death. There is increasing evidence that microplastics end up in our bodies and may be implicated in causing disease.
- While some plastics serve specific and necessary purposes, single-use plastic bags are just a way to get your groceries home – something people have been doing since long before plastic bags were invented.
- “Michigan Water Stewardship program estimates that roughly 80% of litter on the Great Lake Shore Line is plastic and nearly 22 million pounds of plastic debris enters the Great Lakes every year. A United States geological survey found that there are 112,000 particles of microplastics per square mile of Great Lakes water. Research suggests that ingestion of microplastics may cause cancer, affect development, and harm immunity in humans and wildlife.
- PA 389 took away the ability of local communities to decide for themselves what is most beneficial for their people and natural environment. We want that control back.
Another way you can make a difference is to forward this email to everyone you know in the state of Michigan.
Together we can do this.
Jean Vargas
Chelsea
