The Green Teams of Ventnor, Downbeach and the local South Jersey Surfrider Foundation are joining forces and gaining traction….in most places. This green brigade is raising awareness about the eco-harm of plastic bags and how they hurt marine life and the environment in general.
Longport is already on board as they passed an ordinance that discourages use of these single use plastic bags.
Listen to Interview; Mayor Russo, Beth Kwart & Monica Coffey….from NOV. 3, 2015.
Longport Mayor Nick Russo took an early lead in this effort. Brigantine on the other hand, turned it into a partisan issue at a recent council meeting. Brigantine Mayor Phil Gunether, along with Business Chamber President; Mike Brennan, recently pushed back hard against this environmentally friendly effort.
Please support the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) in Brigantine. The MMSC’s main mission is to help seals, birds, turtles and other marine life. These creatures are directly and negatively impacted by non-biodegradable hazards like single-use plastic bags.
Barrier island communities and their tourist economies depends on clean beaches and surf. It’s hoped that the City of Ventnor & Brigantine follow the lead of Mayor Russo and Longport, which recently became the first town in NJ to pass an ordinance imposing a symbolic 10 cent fee on plastic bags.
Placing a fee on plastic bags in has been shown to greatly reduce the amount of plastic bag litter in communities.
WATCH VIDEO CLIP from ‘Bag It’. In this touching and often flat-out-funny film, follow “every man” Jeb Berrier as he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our own bodies. We see how our crazy for plastic world has finally caught up to us and what we can do about it. Today. Right now. >
The symbolic fee collected stays with the local retailer. It also helps the business offset some of costs incurred when supplying customers with bags.
The Ventnor and Downbeach Green Teams and South Jersey Surfrider Foundation have proposed that the Ventnor City Commission and Brigantine City Council adopt an ordinance, like Longport’s, that would place a ten cent fee on carry out bags, paper and plastic, provided at the point of sale (with some exceptions).
