In Montpelier on Election Day 2018, citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of Article 4, marking the first major step in the fight against plastic pollution in Vermont’s capital city. The measure was an official charter change that would grant the City Council of Montpelier an additional power to regulate the distribution of single-use plastic products …
VPIRG has come out in support of Article 4 – a proposed charter change for Montpelier that would give city leaders the authority to address the growing problem of single-use plastic pollution. Specifically, the charter change, proposed by the Mayor and City Council, would enable Montpelier to regulate the sale and distribution of single-use plastics. …
Montpelier: Vote YES on 4 to Curb Plastic Pollution Read More »
Earlier today, VPIRG stood alongside business owners and environmentalists in the kick off for the Straws Upon Request Pledge, a statewide campaign aimed at reducing the number of single-use plastic straws used and thrown away in Vermont. The idea is pretty simple: businesses that take the pledge will make straws available to their customers only …
For more than two decades, we’ve been working to end the giveaway of millions of dollars in unclaimed bottle deposits to the beverage industry and put that money to work for Vermonters. Last night, the governor signed S.285, which finally reclaims the deposits and uses the money to help clean up Vermont’s water ways. This …
New law will use unclaimed Bottle Bill deposits for clean water Read More »
This past week, the Senate passed an amendment by Sen. Anthony Pollina (Washington County) to S.285, which would reclaim Vermonters’ nickels to fund recycling or other important state programs. This amendment must still win approval in the House, but this is a huge achievement that VPIRG has been working toward for decades. Vermont’s popular ‘Bottle Bill’ …
Senate advances Pollina amendment to reclaim nickels Read More »
This week you’ve likely started to hear rumblings about the proposed “bag ban” in Vermont. When you hear about this on VPR, or read about it in another media source please remember one thing. This is not a bag ban. You see, there are two bills being discussed in the Vermont House right now. …
The Bottle Bill is the well-known state law that allows individuals to return certain beverage containers to a redemption center for a five cent rebate. For VPIRG, the issue runs deep- the organization has been fighting to defend and expand the Bottle Bill for over 40 years. It’s a simple yet novel idea, and Bottle Bills across …
Paving the way for universal recycling one nickel at a time Read More »
As folks across the country become more aware of the necessity of recycling and reducing waste, we begin to address some more unusual sources of waste- in this case, tennis balls. Ever think about where all those yellow balls end up when they lose their bounce? Many tennis players will open a fresh can every …
Vermont has a history of being a leader when it comes to protecting our environment. We were one of the first states to implement a Bottle Bill, we required manufacturers to tell you when there was mercury in your light bulbs, and now we are moving closer to implementing a statewide universal recycling program called …
Today our advocate Falko Schilling testified in favor of S. 159, a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation that would establish a state-level certification program for products produced using regenerative agricultural processes. We support this bill for a few important reasons: It will help to legitimize and support regenerative agriculture, which has huge environmental benefits, including: Carbon …
