Richard Metz founded our coalition in 2019 with the goal of expanding SUP bans from Philadelphia to neighboring Montgomery county. This quickly expanded to include Bucks, Delaware and Lehigh counties. We have undergone several name changes from Montgomery County SUP Coalition to our current ReducePlasticsPA. (You may still see "PA Coalition to Reduce Plastic" headings throughout our site. Our current mission is to contact and initiate SUP actions in all 67 PA counties.
Our extended network includes Pennsylvania's unique system of Environmental Advisory Councils. We work closely with Pennenvironment, and The Clean Air Council, and collaborate with other SUP reduction champions.
Lessons Learned
1) Townships vary in how they want to reduce SUP's Some do not support any SUP reductions. Some want to take the first step and educate via public forums, email and movie showings. Some want to speedily scope, write and implement a full ordinance banning many SUP's. Most municipalities fall between these extremes. We are positioned to help municipalities no matter where they are in this quest.
2) Turtles beat the hares. Going fast often leads to stakeholders (like the disadvantaged, supervisors and businesses) being taken off guard, their voices not heard. This results in pushback, roadblocks and the dreaded word "de-prioritized". Be methodical, build a foundation of support, settle disagreements early. Just one of the many lessons you will learn joining this coalition.
3) SUP reduction advocates can be surprised by the amount of work an SUP ordinance requires and the level of pushback encountered. In our regular zoom meetings experienced advocates will advise newer townships in any phase of an ordinance campaign. This includes education on political challenges, business and community support, plastics pollution, health, & recycling. Our coalition has written a guidebook "Why and How to Reduce SUP Bags in Your Community" and provides an e-library deep with education materials, example presentations, ordinances and surveys.
Eyes on the Prize
Making people aware of SUP dangers or passing a local ordinance, can feel like an insignificant victory. Instead, think of it as building and strengthening township environmental mettle. If your EAC can remove 6 gram retail bags from the environment, you are ready for greater challenges, (Round-up, PFAS..) and bigger opportunities. (more solar, parks, ev's, bike paths) The inverse is also true if you cannot...
There is not PA legislative support for passing any SUP reduction legislation at this point, But we are not waiting! The greater the number of townships with bans the greater the momentum at the state level. This strategy worked in California where 151 CA cities and counties adopted plastic bag ban ordinances prior to upholding its first statewide SUP bag ban in 2014. NJ also: 60 municipal bans led to the 2020 statewide ban. Already there are 30+ PA townships (20% of the population) with bans in place. With this local momentum and your support we will achieve a statewide ban here.
Townships implementing bans, start with SUP retail bag bans, but some include SUP utensils & straws: "on request only" for restaurants and banning Styrofoam takeout containers.