To: Durango City Council and Christina Rinderle, Durango Mayor
Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags in Durango!
We want to ban single-use plastic bags within the City of Durango in order to: promote the use of reusable bags; prevent plastic debris buildup; protect wildlife from plastic pollution in our region; reduce the consumption of fossil fuels; and save money for both businesses and consumers.
Why is this important?
We go through 380 billion plastic bags a year, costing us $1.6 billion gallons of oil a year, oil that would be better served for other more vital things. We then throw them in a landfill--the ones that stay there, that is. Billions of bags end up blowing around as litter and end up in our oceans, killing millions of sea creatures every year.
In the U.S., there is a budding but rapidly growing movement to "ban the bag." Like the ban on smoking, which started in local communities and went national, the banning of plastic bags will follow a similar path, though much more quickly. A few examples of cities that have already 'banned the bag' are San Francisco, Telluride, and Brownsville, TX. Let's be a community that helps lead this important local and global issue.