Olympia Becomes Tenth City in Washington to Ban Plastic Bags

Environment Washington

Olympia – On Tuesday evening, the Olympia City Council voted unanimously in favor of banning single-use plastic bags, making it the tenth city in the state of Washington to address the growing threat of plastic pollution. The measure is aimed at cutting plastic pollution to Puget Sound and the ocean, where plastic bags can harm whales, seals and salmon. In 2010, a beached grey whale in West Seattle was found with 20 plastic bags in its stomach, highlighting this terrible problem.

“It’s exciting to see so many cities taking action to protect Puget Sound wildlife from plastic pollution,” said Katrina Rosen of Environment Washington. “On behalf of our members, I want to thank the City Council for adopting this important policy and hope other cities, as well as the state, will continue to adopt similar policies.”
 
There was a unanimous vote in favor of the plastic bag ban in Olympia. Lacey will be considering a similar ordinance. In addition, citizens in Tacoma have been expressing support for a local ban on single-use plastic bags.

“In order to fully protect Puget Sound, we need the entire state of Washington to get rid of single-use plastic grocery bags,” said Rosen. “Nothing we use for a few minutes should spend a lifetime polluting our water or harming our wildlife.”

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Environment Washington is a statewide, citizen-based advocacy organization dedicated to clean air, clean water, and open space. For more information, please visit www.environmentwashington.org