The following article originally appeared as a letter to the editor of the Joliet Herald.

To the Editor,

I am writing this letter because July is International Plastic Free Month. Here are some recommendations for eliminating the plastic that is very unsightly in our neighborhoods when we see plastic bags stuck in trees and plastic bottles littering our streets. Also, many of us are aware of the danger of plastic garbage in lakes and in the ocean, including harm caused to sea birds, sea turtles, and whales.

1 | Call upon city council members and our mayor to enact a plastic bag fee, at checkout at stores in Joliet. This fee could be 10 cents a bag up to 1 dollar per bag, for people who don’t bring their own bags when shopping. The fee needs to be high enough to provide a strong incentive for all of us to bring our own cloth shopping bags with us when we shop. Instead of a plastic bag, a bag received at checkout for a fee should be a paper bag made with recycled paper.  

2 | Decide to stop buying water in plastic bottles, and instead use a stainless-steel bottle filled with filtered water. There are high quality water filters available. One brand is Aquasana.

3 | An alternative to plastic sandwich bags are cloth food wraps, available online and at Trader Joe’s. Also, metal bento lunch boxes are a great alternative to plastic bags when packing a lunch.

4 | The following items can be recycled with plastic bags in the receptacle for plastic bag recycling at Jewel stores and some other stores: cereal box plastic bags (shake out the crumbs first), clean plastic produce bags, plastic newspaper sleeves, and punctured plastic packing pillows and bubble wrap. These items are recycled by the Trex company, and the recycled plastic is used to make park benches and bird houses.

5 | Check Will County Green’s website for information on styrofoam recycling. It is possible to recycle it locally.

Let’s celebrate International Plastic Free Month by taking action to reduce our use of plastic and increase our recycling of plastic (when it is not possible to avoid using it).