Support Seattle's Bag Free Campaign and Lower Your ConsumptionShare

Support Seattle's Bag Free Campaign and Lower Your Consumption

UPDATE: On august 18, Seattle voters rejected a 20-cent fee on use-and-toss bags. The final vote was 46.6% for and 53.3% against the fee. Groups against the fee outspent opponents by about $15-to-$1. (Read more here.)

In all the years this company has been around, Seattle's proposed bag fee is the most important piece of legislation we've seen to help reduce the consumption of "use-and-toss" bags. It's the first bag fee of its kind in the U.S. and is based on Ireland's PlasTax, a proven solution to the plastic bag problem.

"We're following the lead of Ireland... not just for Seattle, but to provide a model for other cities as well." - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

A Call for Help

When Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels called us for help in supporting the Seattle bag fee, we jumped on board, donating $5,000 to the Seattle Green Bag Campaign. The fee is a simple, proven, market-based solution to over consumption, encouraging consumers to change their habits by reducing and reusing. If the bag fee passes, there's great potential for this model to take hold in the U.S. It's important for all of us to help make it happen!

What You Can Do

Visit the campaign's site for more information and donate directly to the campaign.
Spread the word. If you're a blogger or reporter, cover the story.
Follow the Green Bag campaign on Twitter for regular updates, and show your support by becoming a fan of the campaign on Facebook.
Help support our efforts so we can continue to support causes like this. Your purchases count!

About the Fee

Based on Ireland's extremely successful PlasTax, which reduced plastic bag consumption by more than 90%, Seattle's bag fee is a smart way to reduce consumption of "use-and-toss" bags. Last year, the American Chemistry Council poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a coalition to stop the fee, which was originally supposed to go into effect on Jan. 1. The measure is now up for vote in August - an urgent opportunity to stand up to big industry.

Quick facts:

$0.20 charge per disposable plastic or paper bag handed out at grocery, drug and convenience store checkout lines.
Stores with profits under $1 million keep 100% of the money generated by the fee. Stores with larger profits must return 75% of fee revenue.
80% of fee revenue will go toward waste prevention, recycling programs and environmental education programs. The remainder will go toward subsidizing reusable bags.
The fee will dramatically reduce the number of resource-consuming bags that would harm wildlife, litter the city or spend eternity in landfills. Just look at the PlasTax, which reduced plastic bag consumption -from 1.2 billion to 230 million- in just one year. We're talking serious change.

Expected results:

Dramatic reduction in plastic bag consumption by more than 90%
Less unsightly, unhealthy litter
Saves millions of liters of oil used in the production of plastic bags
High-quality reusable shopping bags will become the socially-acceptable option (New York Times)

To learn more, check out our no-nonsense rebuttals to 10 common PlasTax myths.