On February 7, two fourth graders in Weston, Connecticut, will be submitting a petition to their town selectmen. They are trying to ban plastic grocery bags, and have collected 150 signatures on a petition in support of that.
Colleen Moore, 10, had the idea for the petition as part of an assignment in her Project Challenge class at school. “I wanted to do something that was good for the environment and this seemed like a good idea,” she said. Fellow student Julia Morledge, 9, has partnered with Colleen to help move the idea forward.
Their goal is to have the issue on the town’s budget referendum, scheduled for April 24. Naturally, however, the ban proposal isn’t without opposition.
Jim Magee, the owner of Peter’s Market (the only grocery store in Weston that would be affected by a ban) claims there would be a huge impact on the store if he had to switch to all paper.
Still, he said, he understands where the girls are coming from with their environmental concerns.
“We’d like to meet with Mr. Magee and see what he can do. Maybe he could sell reusable cloth bags and make up the cost difference,” Julia said.
(Thanks to Kate Moore/Weston Forum for the great photo!)
