Bring Your Bag Wisconsin

In February 2016, the Wisconsin legislature acted to circumvent any local legislative action against the use of plastic bags. "The Regulation of Auxiliary Containers" (2016 Wis. Act. 302) prohibits local municipalities from passing legislation banning, taxing, or placing fees and legislating rules about plastic bags and other items.     

 

In April 2016, at the Conservation Congress hearing, the following resolution was submitted to Ban the Ban on Bans: 

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WHEREAS Plastic bags are everywhere. Americans use an estimate of 100 billion of them every year, or about 3,000 per second.  These "use once, last forever" items take 12 million barrels of oil to produce, or about 8-10%  of our oil.

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The average American throws away about 10 bags per week.  That is 520 bags per person per year -- enough to drive the average car 60 miles.

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Plastic bags make a mess of our public spaces, kill animals, and pollute our rivers and lakes.  Nationwide, city clean-up efforts are estimated to amount to an estimated $11 billion per year.

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Wisconsin's abundant surface and ground water resources are indispensable for recreation, drinking, and economic activity.  Plastic bags pollute these resources, impairing the quality necessary to sustain life.  The recently-passed 2016 Wis. Act 302 prohibits local governments from regulating single-use containers such as plastic bags.

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BE IT RESOLVED, that the Conservation Congress at its annual meeting in Milwaukee County on April 11, 2016, recommends that the Conservation Congress call upon the DNR to request that the legislature repeal 2016 Wis. Act 302, so that local communities are allowed to regulate single-use containers, including plastic bags.

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