Phasing Out Plastic Bags to Protect Our Environment

From Senator Needleman, 7/31/19

This week will mark the beginning of an environmental protection effort across Connecticut that will impact our state significantly. On August 1, as part of a provision in the state budget, stores will begin charging a fee of 10 cents for every single-use plastic bag. This fee is intended to serve as a deterrent for the use of plastic bags, helping prepare the public for 2021. In two years, plastic bags will be banned across the state for good.

Why are plastic bags being phased out over the next two years? It’s simple: they represent a major threat to our environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, of the up to one trillion plastic bags used worldwide each year, less than 5 percent of them are recycled. That leads to bags littering landfills, parks, rivers and oceans – where they pose a direct threat to wildlife. National Geographic reported that more than 18 billion pounds of plastic reach the ocean every year, and more than half of all dead turtles in the sea have at least some plastic in their stomachs.

Connecticut is joining a wave of states and cities in banning plastic bags in an effort to protect the environment. California and Hawaii previously banned them, while states including New York and Delaware plan to implement similar bans in the next year. Additionally, cities like Boston, Massachusetts and Seattle, Washington have put similar bans in place.

I recommend shoppers who have not already started carrying reusable bags with them to do so. The trade-off on the bag ban? Knowing our beautiful lakes, rivers and oceans will soon have one fewer environmental threat from the public.