Letter: Support an Ordinance Restricting Plastic Bags

Dear Mrs. Stevenson,

My name is Finley Wetmore and I am in the ninth grade at Darien High School. I am a member of the Eco-Citizens Club.

I would like to give my opinion on the choice that you and the RTM will be making to adopt an ordinance to rid Darien of single-use plastic shopping bags. Everyday, hundreds to thousands of these plastic bags are leaving our grocery stores and chain pharmacies with customers.

These bags then, after their single use, are either thrown out, or used for some other purpose and then thrown out. Some of these bags don’t even get the courtesy of being thrown out, and Darien citizens may just walk around town to see those repercussions.

Plastic bags end up in trees, storm drains, on the beach, and in backyards like my own.  Storm drains and beaches both feed this litter into the Long Island Sound.

The bags that end up in either of those places are Darien’s way of saying that we don’t care enough about the environment to just grab a reusable bag as we get out of the car.

All of those bags will end up at some point in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. According to CNN’s Eco Solutions page, this patch is larger than Texas and is a floating plastic island that birds dive for, fish try to eat, and is getting bigger by the day.

For those single-use plastic bags that do make it into our garbage stream, the byproduct of their incineration is toxic.  Burning garbage to make energy is good; burning plastic is not.

Your decision to pass this ordinance, could help change the world. This is not about politics or economics. This is about our world as we know it and whether or not we, as a town, are going to make the push for a better future like so many other towns and entire countries have already done.

We are not just citizens of Darien, we are citizens of the world and therefore it is our duty to preserve, protect and love this Earth.

I have great respect for your and the RTM’s work on behalf of our community and thank you for you thoughtful consideration of this important issue.

Sincerely,

Finley Wetmore