Blogs

By Ollie Navo | April 2025

When you pick up a plastic bag at checkout, it feels free. Maybe it holds your groceries for a few minutes, or your takeout for a quick trip home. Then, it’s gone—into the trash, into a bin, maybe even into the street. But behind that brief moment of convenience lies an invisible price tag—and it’s one we all end up paying.

Plastic bags don’t really disappear. A single bag can take up to 500 years to break down, and when it does, it doesn’t biodegrade. It becomes microplastic, tiny fragments that float through our oceans, sink into our soil, and even make their way into our bloodstreams. They’ve been found in fish, salt, drinking water, and yes—human bodies. A study published in Environmental Science & Technology estimated that the average person may ingest up to 50,000 microplastic particles a year.

That "free" plastic bag? It’s costing us our health, our wildlife, and our planet.

Now zoom out. Americans use over 100 billion plastic bags every year. That’s about 300 bags per person. Multiply that by decades of consumption, and we begin to see the magnitude of our plastic footprint—tangled in trees, drifting through rivers, and swirling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

But there’s good news: change is easier than it seems.

Countries like Ireland saw a 90% reduction in plastic bag use after introducing a small bag tax. People adjusted almost overnight, and reusable bags became the norm. New York saw similar changes after its 2020 ban: streets were cleaner, litter decreased, and habits shifted. If a single city or country can create this kind of transformation, imagine the impact of nationwide action.

That’s what this movement is all about.

We’re not asking for a total lifestyle overhaul. We’re asking for a single dollar—a $1 charge per plastic bag—to make people think twice. And that dollar? It doesn’t just reduce waste. It funds the fight against climate change. Every penny would be donated directly to environmental nonprofits like the NRDC and the Sierra Club, organizations with the legal and scientific power to protect our ecosystems, advocate for cleaner policies, and hold polluters accountable.

A dollar isn’t much. But when it’s spent wisely, it’s revolutionary.

So next time someone hands you a plastic bag, think about what it really costs—and what one small shift could save.

Let’s pay it forward. Let’s fund a cleaner planet. Let’s start with a bag.

By Mia Rodriguez | May 2025

I’ll be honest: I never really thought about plastic bags. I used them, reused them a few times (usually to line my tiny trash can), and figured that was “eco-conscious” enough. I recycled when I remembered, avoided straws when I could, and carried a reusable water bottle most of the time. That made me one of the good guys, right?

Then I read this petition. It popped up on my feed one morning while I was waiting in line at a grocery store—ironically, with plastic bags dangling from my fingertips. I clicked it out of boredom. I signed it out of guilt. But over the past few days, I’ve kept thinking about it... and something shifted.

I learned that Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year. That’s billion with a "b." And I realized that I’ve been so focused on doing “just enough” to feel environmentally responsible that I completely ignored the bigger picture: systems matter. Policies matter. And even something as small as a $1 charge could help reshape behavior, raise awareness, and fund the people actually doing the hard work of protecting our planet.

What struck me most wasn’t the number of bags we use—it was where they end up. In oceans. In forests. In the bellies of animals who mistake them for food. And maybe worst of all, in our own bodies, as microplastics leach into the water and air around us. I didn’t know that. I definitely didn’t feel that, until now.

This campaign isn’t asking anyone to change everything overnight. It’s asking us to do what we should’ve been doing all along: stop treating plastic like it’s free. Because it’s not. We’re paying for it with poisoned water, dying ecosystems, and a future none of us want to inherit.

So here I am—just a regular person, trying to do better. I bought my first real set of reusable grocery bags this week. I keep one in my purse, just in case. And I’ve shared this petition with everyone I know, because this idea deserves momentum.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I’m not the problem,” I hear you. I was you. But now I know better. And thanks to this petition, I’m ready to be better.

Let’s put our money where our planet is.