We Need Your Help to Pass the State Bag Law

Massachusetts Bill H.4234 An Act Reducing Plastic Pollution is currently under consideration by the MA House. If passed, this law would make Massachusetts the second state to ban the free distribution of disposable plastic checkout bags, and significantly reduce a significant and entirely avoidable source of plastic pollution in the Bay State.

We’re getting closer to the end of this legislative session in late July. We really need your help now to Make Some Noise and ensure that the House Speaker and other key figures know that this effort to reduce plastic pollution has a wide base of support and deserves to pass!

Please help by making a quick call to your State Representative and sharing your support for H.4234. You can look up your representative and their contact details here.

Here are a few tips for when you call or e-mail:

1. Remember to give your name and let them know you are a constituent. If e-mailing, it also helps to include your address.
2. Tell them that you support H.4234 An Act Reducing Plastic Pollution. Feel free to share a few reasons why!
3. Ask your representative to get in touch with Speaker DeLeo and Ways and Means Chair Sánchez and pass along your message of support.
4. Thank the person you are talking to!
5. After the contact, please fill out this quick form to let us know how things went.

Sample E-mail

If you'd like some ideas about what to write, feel free to use this sample e-mail below as a starting point!

Dear Representative,

As your constituent, I would like to bring your attention to Bill H.4234, An Act Reducing Plastic Pollution, which is currently pending before the House Committee on Ways and Means.

It is extremely important to me that we take commonsense steps to reduce pollution from single-use plastic items, especially easily replaceable ones like thin film plastic bags. The millions of tons of plastic lost into the environment annually will stay there for hundreds of years, threatening the ecosystems on which we all depend. Reducing plastic pollution will protect public health and support key industries like recreation and tourism.

If current trends continue, it is estimated that the ocean will contain a greater weight of plastic than fish by the year 2050. Ninety cities and towns in MA have already passed local laws to reduce plastic bag pollution. It's time for our whole state to take this step towards reversing a dangerous and unsustainable trend.

In addition to your own support for H.4234, I especially request that you get in touch with Chairman Sanchez and Speaker DeLeo and ask them to make sure that this bill receives a vote in the full House before the end of this session in July.

Thank you very much for your time and attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Remember to include your name and address!

Thank you again for helping us all reduce plastic pollution in Massachusetts! Please get in touch with our Campaigns Coordinator if you have any questions, or please come attend our monthly chapter meetings in Davis Square Somerville on the first Wednesday of each month!