In Marin To Dec. 9<Speak Up for Single Use Plastic Bags Ban>Sausalito>Novato>Larkspur>Ross

Volunteers needed to speak at the in favor of a coordinated county-wide ban of plastic check-out bags at all retail outlets, with a fee to be placed on all paper bags.



Please contact Stuart Moody, Rethinking Plastics campaign director, to express your interest and join this coordinated effort: stuart [at] greensangha.org, or 459-0176.

With the near-passage this summer of AB 1998 (the Single-Use Bag Ban), waste reduction efforts have picked up in municipalities across the state. In Marin County, the BYOBag Coalition (EcoMom Alliance, Green Sangha, iReuse.com, Teens Turning Green) is working on a coordinated county-wide ban of plastic check-out bags at all retail outlets, with a fee to be placed on all paper bags. A large number of grocers have given their support to this effort. A long-standing public education effort through community talks, tabling at markets, and letters to the editor, has raised awareness as well. While we have seen visible shifts in store practices and shopper behavior, there are still millions of bags being thrown away or littered every year in Marin.

Our local elected officials are already aware of the issue, through personal conversations and through a presentation made to a gathering of mayors and councilmembers in February. To motivate these leaders to move now and put the ban on their respective agendas, Green Sangha has organized an outreach campaign: we will be speaking to every city and town council over the next several weeks during Public Comment time.

Public comments on non-agenda topics are taken at the beginning of each council meeting, with a 2-minute limit for each citizen. If you would like to support the single-use bag ban, you are invited to participate in this action. The dates of upcoming meetings are listed below.

COUNCIL MEETINGS IN FALL 2010 Please be prepared to speak for up to 2 minutes at the beginning of the meeting during Public Comment time:


Additional partners in this action include: Canal Alliance, Clean Water Action, Save the Bay, Sierra Club, Sustainable San Rafael, and the Youth Leadership Institute.





Best,

Lea Dutton

Global Stewards

(415) 419-5217

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