San Francisco Save the Bay is fighting to dramatically reduce pollution in the Bay and ocean by advocating for legislation that bans or requires a fee on plastic and paper bags in the Bay Area and the entire state of California.
There are 3,800,000,000 plastic bags used in the San Francisco bay area every year. Over 1,000,000 of those bags end up in the bay each year. That’s 100 bags for every seal, duck and pelican combined.
What can you do?
- Tell the Governor to eliminate plastic bags in California
- Find a local organization and help them with a coastal cleanup
- Switch to reusable bags
What others are doing:
In South Africa, plastic bags were known as the “national flower” because they were found everywhere. Thin plastic bags are now banned and you have to pay for thicker plastic bags at the grocery store or bring your own.
Once littering the streets, bags are now banned in Rwanda. The country has a very tight policy on plastic bags- no plastic bags are allowed in Rwanda, and luggage will be searched to ensure that none make their way in!
Zanzibar also has banned the bag, prohibiting the import and production of plastic bags. “We have to put the environment above everything,” Zanzibar’s Director of Environment Ali Juma said.“Besides being an eyesore, plastic bags are very damaging to land and marine life and we are already threatened by the rapid pace of development.”
