Posted by Carol, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Mar 13, 2012 at 4:43 pm

I applaud the City Council for taking the initiative in considering a ban on plastic bags in Menlo Park. This is indeed good news, and environmentally responsible.

As a past volunteer for Wildlife Rescue, I have witnessed first-hand the tragedy of birds and turtles dying from either ingesting or getting caught up in these lethal traps.

In a perfect world, we would all dispose of plastic bags responsibly, but we only need to take a walk along our ocean or lakefront shores, or drive down our freeways to see that this scenario is far from reality. Even for those who dispose of plastic bags in a responsible fashion are forced to place them with the regular trash since they are not considered recyclable. Then where do the bags go?

I agree with charging for paper bags. Paper comes from our valuable forests, and even recycled paper costs money and resources to process.

Finally, I agree with prohibiting Styrofoam containers that don't degrade, and are harmful to the very wildlife we have the responsibility of protecting.

WE OWE IT TO OURSELVES AND WILDLIFE TO BAN BOTH PLASTIC BAGS AND STYROFOAM, AND REDUCE THE USE OF PAPER BAGS!

Please take a moment to view the informative link here on plastic bag statistics.

Web Link

Say NO to plastic bags!