How To Contact Your Legislators

You can locate legislators’ contact information by going online to your City Councils website. If you are having trouble finding an email address of your legislators, consider calling your city council office so that they can put you in touch. 

Sample Email

Dear Council Member [NAME],

I’m writing to you to address my support of Plastic Free Washington’s efforts to establish a producer responsibility program in Washington. Current recycling systems are outdated and place the cost of recycling onto our community. 

 [Insert some statements that address the problem, and why it’s important to you:

• Reduce local government expenses to provide recycling services.
• Create one statewide recycling list.
• Expand recycling to underserved multi-family buildings and rural areas.
• Provide recycling to all Washingtonians at no cost to residents or local government.
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and plastic pollution.
• Preserve the ability of cities and counties to choose their level of involvement in recycling services.

In order to reduce the amount of recyclable waste that ends up in landfills, incinerators and the environment, we need to change our recycling systems and make manufacturers responsible for the waste that they create. 

Washington needs to establish a producer responsibility program for packaging, similar to the programs established in Canada and recently passed in Maine, Colorado, and California. Companies should be held responsible for the waste their products create and should fund the collection and processing of recycled materials, taking the cost burden off residents and municipalities

As your constituent, I ask you to please join me in supporting the WRAP act. 

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

If you attend a candidate forum or a legislator townhall, be sure to ask a question about positions on plastic reduction, our recycling system and plastic pollution. It will be helpful to keep this issue on the minds of our elected officials.