SKIP THE BAG, SAVE THE RIVER

Addi Vander Velde

After going through a year of events that felt like they could have been gone through in a lifetime; a pandemic, a broken foot, health complications, a malpractice case, and my grandpa's death, another one came along. In early August of 2021, my grandmother, Bia, ended up in the hospital after contracting a severe case of E. coli. This came after water sources within the city of Littleton had been contaminated. Like many other residences, I felt helpless and confused as to where this outbreak came from. Then one day, I stumbled across an article from the Denver Post. According to the report that the article discussed, E. coli contamination within the South Platte River area was 137 times higher than the federal safety limit. I was shocked. Immediately I was on a hunt to find a solution. Although the level of contamination seemed impossible, the solution I found was an easy one. It starts with one small step: reducing the amount of single-use plastic circulating within our community.

We Coloradans take pride in being environmentally friendly and cherishing the phenomenal location we all live in - from the sweeping Rocky Mountains to the multi-colored sunrises and sunsets, there is so much in Colorado’s landscape to love. But that also needs protecting. Plastic is polluting our sacred Colorado environment as everyday items, such as plastic bags, invade rivers and lakes and leave our community suffering from the consequences. For example, within Littleton, the South Platte River is suffering tremendously from said plastic litter. This results in costly government clean-up, paid for by taxpayer dollars that could be going towards education, infrastructure repair, and so much more.

As a community, we use twelve million single-use plastic bags annually. It is time to disrupt daily plastic usage and create an innovative and accessible option for city residents to do so. The solution to saving the South Platte and its ecosystem is for Littleton to significantly decrease the amount of plastic that ends up in the river. This can be accomplished by implementing a small plastic bag tax within our town. Through a plastic bag tax, the city would be able to strongly encourage and guide Littleton residents to stop single-use plastic bag usage. Along with generating the fund to clean up our suffering environment, within and eventually outside of the South Platte River.

The plastic bag tax would apply to all businesses within Littleton. The only exception would be people on welfare and food stamps. Free reusable bags would be available at donation centers and prominent Littleton events, such as Western Welcome Week and the Littleton Stride, to encourage every resident to stop using single-use bags without the burden of purchasing reusable bags.

The tax would be 10 cents per bag, with 40% (4 cents a bag) of the revenue going back to the business and 60% (6 cents a bag) going to the city. The money going to the town would be used to hand out free reusable bags to the residence and eventually other multi-use items. Along with this, the funds generated would provide funds for environmental cleanup.

On July 1st, 2021, the 10-cent bag tax was implemented in Denver and has curved plastic bag usage by 83% and generated around 1.4 million dollars in revenue. If we as a community followed the same pattern as Denver, the city of Littleton would use roughly 9,840,000 fewer single-use plastic bags a year. This would lead to our ecosystem being helped significantly through the reduction of single-use plastics, one step at a time.

We, as a community, have no choice but to help the environment now. Currently, Colorado officials have deemed the South Platte River water inhabitable. Furthermore, it is strongly advised against swallowing water or fish from the river as it could be incredibly toxic. We cannot continue to let the environment suffer and damage it further and further beyond repair. The climate is in desperate need of relief. Providing said relief will bring about a more prosperous life for those who inhabit the city, and this small act can thoughtfully contribute to this goal. I, as a resident of the city of Littleton, encourage you to contact our representatives and encourage them to introduce legislation to implement a 10-cent bag tax within the city. Implementing this small tax would potentially save victims of water contamination, such as my grandma.