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Plastic Bag Bills
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The 2020 Virginia General Assembly saw a turnover of controlling party in both the Senate and House of Delegates. There was also a change of fortune for plastic bag bills and other environmental legislation. Several plastic bag control bills advanced through the session, and were eventually consolidated into SB11, which allows any locality to impose a tax of five cents on disposable bags. The Governor signed SB11 into law on April 10th. ★ ★ Hooray! ★ ★ Now we need to ask our local elected officials to enact ordinances to make the five cent tax a reality. Contact your Fairfax County supervisor , and let them know you want them to follow through on the promise that SB11 offers of a cleaner future for Accotink Creek. Some text you can use as a model. Modify or personalize as appropriate: The Friends of Accotink Creek urge you to enact an appropriate ordinance to realize the promise of SB11, approved this year by the General Assembly to control the use of disposable plastic bags. We strongly endorse and support efforts like this to reduce trash in local watersheds. As an elected official, we encourage you to support the work of your many constituents who participate in stream cleanups. Each year Friends of Accotink Creek and other civic groups mobilize volunteers who clean tons of plastic bags and containers, as well as other trash and debris, from streams that feed into the Chesapeake Bay. Across the United States, millions of tons of plastic waste is washed from streets into waterways, fouling waters for both aquatic life and human usage. Reducing consumer consumption of plastic bags, by means of bans, restrictions, and/or taxes, is an effective way to reduce the amount of plastic trash that enters our watersheds, and flows downstream to the Potomac River, and the Chesapeake Bay. Besides being an eyesore and a burden to remove, this noxious litter refuses to go away, only breaking down into toxic particles that will be with us forever. Read the text of the bills and track their progress using the guide ↓ below ↓ provided by our friends in Litter Free Virginia
Let's get the bags out of Accotink Creek!
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