Bozeman Sees Petition to Vote on Banning Single-Use Plastics, Grocery Bags in November

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): A group called Montana Plastic Free is campaigning to get rid of some single use plastics within the city and they're gathering signatures for a petition called the Bozeman Plastics Initiative.

The initiative would ban single plastic grocery bags, polystyrene food and containers and polystyrene packing material like packing peanuts.

 The group is trying to gather enough signatures to get this issue on the November ballot and they have until the end of the month to do so.

Montana Plastic Free says this is just a first step in addressing the impact of single use plastics.

"There's a lot of new research coming out about the health impacts of single use plastics and plastics in general," Frannie Kocemba, coordinator for Montana Plastic Free Bozeman, said. "Not only health impacts and environmental impacts. As many people know, there's microplastics found in Yellowstone trout."

If the initiative goes to the ballot and passes in November, by May of next year, polystyrene foam food containers and packing materials like packing peanuts would be banned for use in the city as well as grocery bags.

Montana Plastic Free needs a minimum of 7000 signatures to get that initiative on the ballot. Right now, they say they have around 6000.

The group has until July 31 to get enough signatures to place the initiative on the ballot.

 Courtesy: www.kulr8.com