Plastic Pollution Reduction Act headed to Governor’s desk

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HB1162 would phase out the worst plastic pollution from bags to polystyrene cups and containers, lift restrictions on local government to do more

CoPIRG

DENVER – HB21-1162, the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, cleared its final hurdle in the Colorado State Legislature and is headed to Governor Polis’s desk to be signed in the next few weeks. HB21-1162 is one of the most comprehensive plastic pollution reduction bills passed in the country and marks the first time an interior state has taken action to phase out plastic pollution.

HB21-1162 would phase out single-use plastic bags, polystyrene cups and containers, and reverse a law that prohibited municipalities from taking action around plastic pollution. With Coloradans going through an estimated 4.6 million single-use plastic bags and 1.2 million single-use polystyrene cups a day in our state, CoPIRG has called for the Colorado legislature to make 2021 the year to take action on plastic pollution

CoPIRG applauds the sponsors, Representatives Alex Valdez and Lisa Cutter, Senator Julie Gonzales, and Senate President Leroy Garcia, for their tireless work to move the bill through both chambers. 

The following statement was issued by Danny Katz, executive director of CoPIRG

Colorado has now passed one of the most comprehensive plastic pollution reduction bills in the country. As the first interior state to take this action, this builds momentum to phase out these kinds of unnecessary and wasteful single-use plastics across the country. They pollute our waterways and parks, harm our health and wildlife, and take centuries to break down. Nothing we use once to carry food or a beverage for a few minutes should pollute our state for hundreds of years. The Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, HB1162, will phase out some of the worst single-use plastics and we applaud the House and Senate for taking action. We look forward to Governor Polis signing the bill in the coming weeks.”