Hey, Massachusetts...! Don't Skip “Skip the Stuff”!

A bill that would significantly help the environment in Massachusetts has been stuck in the state's legislative process since mid-2023.

The bill, informally called “Skip the Stuff,” would enact powerful laws to reduce pollution by banning or massively limiting the use of single-use plastics in everyday life.

No longer would your takeout lunch automatically come with a landslide of plastic utensils, containers, straws, condiment packages, etc. — as is now common. Consumers will have to ask for such things, rather than receiving this future debris by default.

Further, the bill offers businesses financial incentives to use reusables, and supports educational campaigns about the perils of plastic.

It's sure needed. According to Upstream, the Maine-based environmental advocacy group that's spearheading Skip the Stuff, “561 billion disposable food service items are used every year [in the United States], resulting in 4.9 million tons of waste. Americans use more than 36 billion utensils and as much as 142 billion straws each year.”

This is a tragedy under any terms — not least because much of this plastic, which is not biodegradable and lasts about a billion years, is neither requested nor needed.

Now what's needed is for Massachusetts legislators to throw away their slowness and pass House Bill 766. Just like California, Washington State, Denver, Washington, DC, and Chicago — among others — have already done.

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Got your bullhorns out? Get involved today!

You can find contact information for your representative in the Massachusetts State Legislature here.

Massachusetts lawmakers who have pushed for the bill include Representative Michelle Ciccolo, Senator Jason Lewis and Senator Becca Rausch.

You can also aim your good green words at Massachusetts' Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture.

Just tell them all: Don't Skip “Skip the Stuff”!!

—By Steve's Weave