[GreenYes] Urgent! We need help opposing Anti-Zero Waste legislation in CA

["Linda Christopher" <linda@no.address>]

Dear California Greenyes Members,

The GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN) and The Earth Resource Foundation (ERF) request that you email Governor Schwarzenegger and ask him to VETO AB 2449. AB 2449 is a Plastic Bag Recycling Bill that is the antithesis of Zero Waste!

Specifically AB 2449 requires very large grocery stores (defined by square footage) to collect and recycle plastic shopping bags. At the end of the legislative session, a Faustian bargain was made: the bill now prohibits cities and counties from imposing any levy, fee or restriction on plastic bags!   What started as a recycling bill has become a Trojan horse that will tie the hands of local government from pursuing zero waste, resource conservation, and waste prevention. 

In other words, in return for tepid requirements for downstream management of waste, this bill will strip local government of the ability to eliminate waste at the source and to hold producers responsible for their product. 

It's unusual to ask you to take action twice in one day, but we need help TODAY because:

1. It's important!  This bill will be a setback for Zero Waste. We are being tossed the bone of "recycling collection" in return for losing our legal right to pursue upstream solutions and EPR.

2. It's easy!  All you have to do is click http://www.govmail.ca.gov  to send a message to the governor.

3. It's urgent!  The governor may sign the bill any day now.  We're up against environmental organizations and recycling organizations who support the bill as "a step in the right direction" and don't expect local governments to miss the rights this bill takes away.

For more information or learn how to fax a letter or call the governor instead please visit www.earthresource.org
Please CC: letters and emails to Stephanie.Barger@no.address

Sincerely,
Linda Christopher, Executive Director, GrassRoots Recycling Network
Stephanie Barger, Executive Director, Earth Resource Foundation

Partial List of Entities Opposing AB 2449:
City and County of San Francisco
City of Oakland
City of Palo Alto
City of Santa Monica
Marin County
San Luis Obispo County
Northern California Recycling Association 



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