Support plastics ban

On Feb. 11, in a truly historic vote, the European Parliament voted to ban single-use plastic products across Europe. Just one day before this historic vote, The Spokesman-Review opined a plastic bag ban doesn’t make sense.

Regulated reductions in plastic bags and other single-use plastics make sense for our river, our planet, and the humans and animals that depend on a healthy environment. In Spokane, we owe it to our river to take a step to reduce the amount of single-use plastic most of us use every day. If America’s largest grocer (Kroger) and our own Rosauers are supportive of this ban – the least we can is to stand in favor.

The best possible solution to reducing plastic in our river is to not use it in the first place. Plastic pollution is not just a problem in our oceans – it’s a problem in the Spokane River, and the Spokane Riverkeeper has documented alarming amounts of plastic fibers in our river, especially downstream of our wastewater treatment plant.

Please call your legislators and support the plastic bag ban. Our grandchildren will thank us!

Len Zickler

Spokane