Please set a precedent in ending plastic in our oceans. What an opportunity to lead the way!

As a California resident, I have seen the benefits of plastic bag bans, and have seen no detriment to any business. It is a responsible move. People will gripe initially but it is easy to adjust.

These bags are an environmental and aesthetic disaster, and they are so unnecessary. I’ve been using my own cloth bags for decades now; it’s easy and practical. And you never have to look at them hanging in rags from trees or floating in our waters, where they can and do harm wildlife.

A compromised ecosystem is a compromised economic system. What minor setbacks businesses experience pales next to the major benefits needed to stop toxic damage from the abundance of single use plastics. Support this bill. Please.

Plastics befoul our landscapes. The small beach near me in Gloucester is beautiful, but plastics wash up each day. I pick up what I can. More importantly, we need to support life in our oceans, not kill it with ingested plastics. The “convenience." of plastic for a moment’s use cannot be allowed to continue when it impacts the health of our planet and all that dwells therein.

We never knew, when plastics became the thing to ‘get into’, how it would all pan out. We are now seeing the devastating and fatal consequences of our frivolous use of the stuff. It’s in everything. So please be part of the solution to begin removing it from as many places as possible so that there can be a chance to heal our environment. We may never be pristine again, but we can sure put our efforts toward cleaning up the madness. Thank you.

In 32 years plastic will outweigh fish in our oceans. This problem will not stop until we eliminate all the plastic bottles and bags and food containers that we possibly can. Obviously that affects rivers as well. We must do everything we can to stop using plastic wherever we can–or kill all of our marine animals and by extension the humans who eat them. Plastics contain toxins that are deadly to all species as well as the water we need to survive. Please sign this critically important Act Reducing Plastic Pollution.

This is a fair and reasonable bill. As a member of the Newton Needham Regional Chamber, I don’t want to impose a burden on small businesses. This bill is designed to keep small businesses from being hurt. We need to protect the oceans marine life from being damaged and from polluting our drinking water. This bill will help. Please sign it. Thank you.

I recall the days before plastic bags. Trash was collected curbside in metal cans. Most people brought net or cloth bags with them shopping and stores provided paper bags for purchases. Plastic is everywhere and in everything including sea and wildlife. It must stop. We need to reverse the everyday availability of plastic bags immediately, there is just no reason for this excess. By the way, I turn 60 this year. Plastic bags have only been around for a few decades. People will adjust as will the manufacturers lobby.

I very much miss the days when governments encouraged civic duty–like the Keep America Beautiful Campaign–begun by Lady Bird. It made me feel proud and part of America. Instituting this law equals Massachusetts Strong. We need to see our strengths in more intrinsic ways other fighting terrorism or attracting business. This is an opportunity for Massachusetts to encourage civic pride and unity with fellow state citizens to play an important part in making your Commonwealth both beautiful and healthy.

We are long overdue on making a major effort to reduce plastic pollution. When our US government does not take the reins – then States need to – for the sake of our environment, for the sake of our future generations. I don’t live in your State, but what happens in your State and all other US States affects us all. We all must do all we can – I hope you will do all you can to reduce plastic pollution.

I live in a suburb of Seattle. My city and many others in the area have already outlawed plastic bags. From the shopper’s standpoint, it is quite an easy transition. Stores can offer cheapies-99 cent reusable bags (our stores sell their cheap, cloth like bags made from recycled plastic bags- and also sell nicer, thick, reusable vinyl bags with attractive colors and designs. Doesn’t take long for each shopper to build a little collection of these reusable bags, and just takes a little longer for a person to get in the habit of actually bringing them into the store. There were a few times at first when I forgot bags at home, or they made it into my car but I forgot to bring them into the store. I am now fully trained, and about 99% of the time, I remember to bring my collection of reusable bags into the grocery store when I do my shopping. Totally worth the trouble to know the impact my city is making with this one little change. And, let’s not kid ourselves, this is a teeny, tiny change in the scheme of things. But if we humans are going to have any hope of saving our planet from our destructive ways, we need to start with this change, and then start quickly stacking other planet-saving changes on top of it. Do the right thing. Ban plastic bags. Consider it a first step for your state.