The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will move a giant step toward nation-leading climate action with today’s announcement that the Governor will ban state agencies from purchasing single-use plastic bottles. Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative during New York’s Climate Week, Healey emphasized, “In government, we have an obligation to stop contributing to this damage and chart a better path forward. So we are proud to become the first state to adopt a procurement ban on single-use plastic bottles.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Sabrina Shankman adds, “At the event, Healey also announced that she will direct state agencies to establish biodiversity conservation goals for 2030, 2040, and 2050, and to develop strategies to meet the targets. As climate change amplifies threats amid a period of global extinction that experts say has pushed one million species to the brink, Healey said the protections the state will adopt will exceed a global goal.
The effort to ban plastic bottles has been a long-simmering frontier in the effort to combat climate change and waste. Concord was the the first municipality in the United States to ban the sale of single-use plastic bottles and while some other cities and towns in Massachusetts also have enacted such a ban, no states have. Rather, more than a dozen states have passed prohibitions on banning plastic bottles.
The threat from plastic bottles goes beyond pollution. Scientists and environmental advocates have increasingly warned that greenhouse gases produced during the manufacturing of plastic, as well as the gases emitted after plastic is thrown away, are exacerbating the climate crisis. In addition, plastic is produced from fossil fuels such as natural gas and feedstocks from crude oil refining.”
Thank you, Governor.