I know what you did last summer (passed more plastic bag bans)

This summer, Pennsylvania saw more movement to ban single-use plastics than ever: five new municipalities passed laws banning plastic bags in the last four months alone! They are Easttown Township in Chester County, Bucks County’s Solebury Township, Media Borough and Radnor Township in Delaware County, and Montgomery County’s Ambler Borough. 

It’s estimated that the laws passed this summer could eliminate around 24 million plastic bags every year, equivalent to 132 tons of plastic waste that would otherwise end up in landfills, burned in incinerators, or littered in our environment. 

Some of these townships went beyond just tackling single-use plastic bags: Solebury and Ambler included a ban on polystyrene takeout food containers in their local ordinances. Solebury and Media both also included restrictions on the distribution of plastic straws. 

It’s great to see our local leaders taking on different types of single-use plastic, and hopefully more will follow soon.