Sign the Philadelphia Plastic Bag Ban Petition

Back in 2009, Philadelphia voted and rejected a plastic bag ban. They gave into pressure from the plastic industry, while cities like
Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, and Toronto stood up and passed plastic bag bans in recent years.

Citizens are speaking up to let city council know that it’s time to put this ban back on the table.

Today the “Ban the Plastic” campaign organized by Green Philly Blog unites Philadelphian bloggers to simultaneously demand that a plastic bag ban is enforced in Philadelphia.

We’ve all seen plastic bags littering Philadelphia’s streets and blowing in our beloved parks, rivers, and neighborhoods.  Here are a few statistics to keep in mind:

– Each year, Americans use approximately 100 BILLION plastic bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste

– An Average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags per year…Totaling an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide (per 365 days).

– So many plastic bags have gone into our ocean that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, formed which has ballooned to 2 X’s the size of the Continental U.S.

– Plastic bags are made from oil, accounting for 4% of oil production around the globe.

– Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down…so even when an animal dies and decays after ingesting a bag, the plastic re-enters the environment, continuing to threaten wildlife.

Please take a moment to sign the Philadelphia Plastic Bag Ban Petition and share with your friends, neighbors, and social media communities.

 

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