Chatham Wants You To 'Bring Your Own Bag' For The Environment

CHATHAM, NJ - The Chatham Borough's Bring Your Own Bag initiative, brought to you by the Department of Community Services, aims to lower our town's single use plastic product waste to better the environment.

A collection box has been set up inside Chatham Borough Hall inside the Chatham
Borough Hall main entrance, where community members can pick-up or drop-off their reusable bags. There will also be a collection box at the Chatham Borough Farmers' Market located at Railroad Plaza South, operating every Saturday through Nov. 23.

Organizers shared the Hard Facts About Single Use Plastics:

• Many single use plastics are already banned throughout the world.
• 73 percent of beach litter is plastic.
• Every minute, 1 million plastic water bottles are purchased.
• Every minute, 2 million plastic bags are used.
• The average plastic bag is used for just 12 minutes.
• In just the last 50 years, worldwide plastic production has doubled.

Chatham Borough is also looking for feedback on on single use plastics via survey. According to officials, these findings will be used to help craft recommendations to local governing bodies regarding possible new regulations and other initiatives related to plastic bags, Styrofoam, and other single use plastics.

The survey should take no more than four minutes to complete and is available at this link here.

Additional questions should be directed to Jessica Romeo, Chatham Township Environmental Commission and founder of the Northern Jersey Sustainable Municipal Alliance, at jessica.romeo@gmail.com, or Len Resto, Chatham Borough Environmental Commission Chair, at lenresto@optonline.net.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com