PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The Portage Environmental Board started a drive to collect plastic grocery bags for recycling and managed to hit their year long goal of 1000 pounds in just four months, earning a plastic park bench for the city.
Board member Lauren Tompkins says only one in seven of the billions of bags used annually are currently recycled, creating a serious trash problem in landfills, our oceans, and roadsides.
“22,000,000 pounds of plastic entered the Great Lakes and that contributes to the microplastics that are now found in our fish our drinking water and unfortunately our beer,” says Tompkins.
The Portage Environmental Board also left the council with recommendations on how to improve bag recycling, including more bins, more education and changes in state law to encourage recycling and lift the state law that denies local bans on the bags.
City Manager Pat McGinnis also offered to make the drop off bin a regular fixture in the lobby of City Hall, if the council wishes.
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