The Annapolis Chapter has only been around for about a year, but they already have their first campaign victory! The Chapter celebrated the passing of a plastic bag ordinance through the Annapolis City Council on July 22, 2024. Ordinance 0-5-24 will come into effect on January 22, 2025.
Chapter Chair Amy Adamo and Annapolis High School Club President Gracyn Green testified together at the hearing, in support of the ordinance. For Amy, it was her second time testifying for the ordnance, having done so the first time it came before the Council a few months earlier.
Annapolis Chapter Chair Amy Adamo and Annapolis High School Club President Gracyn Green
Also on hand for the passage were representatives from the Sierra Club, our stalwart partners in getting this ordinance passed. Surfrider staff and Sierra Club put together a long list of edits to the first version of the ordinance, which were incorporated to make the language more clear and effective.
As Annapolis residents, the health of our community and natural areas are critical to our local economy and our way of life. Plastic bags are one of the most common forms of plastic pollution found in clean ups and pose a significant threat to human health and wildlife.
Single use plastic bags pose significant health risks to humans, especially those in underserved communities where the majority of plastic manufacturing and waste management infrastructure is located. Plastic bags not sent to landfills, burned, or littered, are often put in recycling bins, where they clog recycling machines and cost recyclers and taxpayers money to remove.
Annapolis passed a tried and true version of a “bag bill” which bans single use film plastic carryout bags and places a 10 cent fee on reusable and paper bags at any retail stores. This type of ordinance has been used successfully to reduce plastic bag litter in many other cities and states. The ordinance language closely resembles language the surrounding Anne Arundel County used in their bag bill.
Enacting this ordinance will help keep our beautiful natural areas clean of plastic bag litter, reduce taxpayer dollars spent on clean ups and recycling, and keep plastic bags from threatening wildlife and human health.