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  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Board of Directors
    • Our Staff
    • Become a Member
    • Education Fund
    • Internships >
      • Our Past Interns
    • Job Openings
    • News >
      • Press Room
  • Issues
    • Briefing Papers
    • Canyons and Seamounts
    • Carbon Pricing
    • Clean Energy >
      • Clean Energy For All
      • New England for Offshore Wind
    • Environmental Justice
    • Gas Pipeline
    • PFAS
    • Plastics
    • Water
    • Transportation
    • Wildlife
    • Petitions
  • Legislation
    • Action Alerts
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    • Testimony
    • Scorecard
  • Donate
    • 2022 Year in Review
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    • 2022 Environmental Achievement Awards
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VOTING RIGHTS

Plastic bags, straws, bottles, and other waste present a significant threat to the ecosystems in the Long Island Sound and across Connecticut. Turtles can mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, and when they ingest them, the bags can lodge in their stomachs. Plastic can also cause intestinal blockages in whales and dolphins.

​The United Nations has estimated that 
more than 8 million tons of plastic wind up in our oceans each year. Connecticut uses more than 400 million plastic bags each year. Many of these end up in the Connecticut River and eventually in our oceans.

In Connecticut, Greenwich and Westport have banned single-use plastic bags to help turn the tide against this wave of pollution. Towns including Guilford, Mansfield, Norwich, Stamford, and Waterford are also considering similar legislation, and the town of 
Stonington is considering bans on both bags and straws.

Nationally, some large retailers and restaurant companies have recently announced initiatives to curb plastic consumption. Starbucks and McDonalds have both announced they will be phasing out plastic straws, while Krogers has announced it will stop providing single-use plastic bags.

At the state level, plastic bag bans and fees have been proposed in the Connecticut General Assembly, but none have made it to the Governor's desk. Some lawmakers have also proposed fixes to strengthen our recycling program, also known as the "Bottle Bill." The last attempt to modernize our recycling program died in the House in 2018.

A PLASTIC PROBLEM

Plastic waste has invaded landfills, waterways, Long Island Sound, and critical ecosystems across Connecticut.
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IMPACT OF PLASTICS

  • More than 8 million tons of plastic enter our oceans each year. If this pace continues, plastic will outnumber fish by 2050.
  • Sea turtles are now consuming twice as much plastic now as they did 25 years ago.
  • More than 200 species have been found entangled in plastic, causing injury and even death to many specimens.
  • 91% of plastic is not recycled. Only 12% of plastics have been incinerated.
  • Because plastic takes 400 years to break down, the bottles, bags, straws, and other waste we toss away will be here for a long time to come.
  • Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every 5 seconds. 
  • More than 1 billion plastic bags are consumed in the United States each year.
  • A 5-cent tax on plastic bags in Connecticut could generate more than $20 million in revenue. This revenue could be used to fund our parks program or other important initiatives.  

MORE INFORMATION

  • CTLCV Briefing Paper: Plastic Pollution (PDF)
  • CTLCV Briefing Paper: ​Modernizing the Bottle Bill (PDF)
  • 2020 Bottle Bill Coalition Sign On Letter
  • Container Recycling Institute - Plastic Facts
  • PlasticBagLaws.org
  • Long Island Sound Study 
  • Plastic tide threatens Long Island Sound (CT Post)
  • Citizens Campaign for the Environment - COVID-19 & Plastic Bags
  • Citizens Campaign for the Environment - COVID-19 & Bottle Bill
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