Keep plastic out of Narragansett Bay
Plastic pollution litters Narragansett Bay and our ocean coast — threatening birds, clams, sea turtles and all of our marine wildlife. We’re urging Rhode Island's leaders to phase out the most wasteful and unnecessary form of this trash by banning disposable plastic bags.
Hundreds of millions of plastic bags
Rhode Islanders use hundreds of millions of disposable plastic bags every year—most of which we use only once, for the few minutes it takes us to get home from the store. Even if they make their way to landfills, these bags end up getting carried by the wind into Narragansett Bay and our parks, beaches and rivers.
Marine environment in danger
Too many plastic bags end up as litter in Narragansett Bay and off our coast, and it's creating an ecological disaster:
• Turtles, whales, and other marine animals that pass through Rhode Island waters often mistake plastic bags for food, which can cause them to starve or choke to death. They can also get entangled in bags and drown or die of suffocation.
• Adult seabirds inadvertently feed small pieces of plastic to their chicks, often causing them to die when their stomachs become filled with plastic.
• As plastic bags break down into smaller fragments, fish and quahogs are vulnerable to the toxic pollutants they carry. Fish and clams are vital to the marine food chain and Rhode Island's economy.
Nothing we use for five minutes should pollute the Bay for hundreds of years
Because they do not biodegrade, plastic from bags remains in our waters for hundreds of years, perhaps longer. Nothing we use for just five minutes should pollute Narragansett Bay for hundreds of years, spoiling its waters with trash and endangering the wildlife we treasure and depend on.
It’s time for the Ocean State to protect Narragansett Bay from plastic pollution.
Luckily, the solution is simple: Ban plastic bags. We can make an immediate impact by getting towns and cities around Rhode Island to ban the bag locally, and then build on that momentum to ensure single-use plastic bags are banned statewide. If enough of us speak out, we can cut the flow of plastic into our waters.
Join our campaign today to ban plastic bags: Send your legislature a message today!
Tell your state and local decision-makers to keep plastic out of Narragansett Bay.
- Plastic debris kills millions of sea turtles, sea birds, and marine mammals each year.
- Plastic bits ingested by fish and clams can carry toxic pollutants like DDT and PCB.
- Plastic takes hundreds of years, perhaps longer, to photo-degrade.
- Bans throughout Rhode Island could keep hundreds of millions of plastic bags out of our oceans every year.