Bellingham, WA Plastic Bag Ban

On July 11th, 2011, the Bellingham City Council voted 7-0 in favor of the ordinance to ban carry out plastic bags and implement a 5 cent fee on brown paper bags starting July 2012. This truly was a community effort, starring two empowering citizens, Jill MacIntyre Witt and Brooks Anderson, who started the local group Bag It Bellingham supported by the Surfrider Foundation, People for Puget Sound, Sierra Club, Environment Washington, and RE Sources, who all helped in organizing hundreds of volunteer hours to gather over 3,000 signatures as well as to outreach and educate the community about the ordinance. The key to this victory was meeting with, involving, and gathering support from everyone in the community- from those at the farmer's markets, church groups, schools, neighborhood associations, dog owners, business owners, and more. The Surfrider Foundation Northwest Straits Chapter hopes that Washington State can soon follow in passing similar legislation to reduce single-use bags to help reduce our impact on our oceans.