SURFRIDER FOUNDATION
RISE ABOVE PLASTICS (RAP) PLASTIC REDUCTION RESOURCES
Updated June 2013
Use these resources after reading the RAP Activist Toolkit
In this document you will find:
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Education and Outreach Ideas (page 1)
RAP on the web (page 2)
Info on the various options for plastic reduction ordinances (page 3)
Sample Bag Ban Petition (page 4)
Sample letter to mayor / city council (page 5-6)
Tips on building community support: Action Alert, Phone Tree, etc. (pages 7-8)
Sample Talking Points for a City Council Meeting and Media Tips (pages 9-10)
Education and Outreach Ideas
Rise Above Plastics is a well-rounded Surfrider Foundation program that offers many avenues to
help reduce plastic litter in the marine environment. Everyone can play a role such as leading by
example, sharing our info with your family and friends, volunteering for your local Surfrider
Foundation Chapter or by leading a plastic reduction effort at school, work or in your town. It
typically all starts with Education and Outreach: helping to spread the word about issues with
single-use plastics.
We encourage you to work with your local Surfrider Chapter to raise awareness through:
- Classroom and community presentations
- Hosting a beach cleanup and tracking what you collect. Click Here for a data card to use.
- Creating a ‘Rise Above Plastics Day’ to distribute reusable bags and raise awareness.
- Bringing the ‘Bag Monster’ from Chico Bags to a local event.
- Getting a great price on Envirosax reusable bags for outreach events.
- Starting a Surfrider Club at your high school or college.
- Getting your school to stop buying and using plastic water bottles and/or foam containers.
- Working with your employer to reduce plastic in the workplace.
- Working with retailers to promote voluntary plastic reductions: ‘Remember Your Bags’
parking lot signs and key chains, rebates/donations for reusable bags, etc.
- ‘Tabling’ at local events to talk with people, recruit volunteers, get petitions signed, etc.
- Hosting a ‘Bag It’ film screening. If you'd like to host a screening, you can just go directly through the site of our
distributor, New Day Films, to place an order. (They'll send you a new DVD even if you already have one, which is the only glitch in the system.)
You can find them at http://www.newday.com/films/bagit.html to place an order. Fees are now $150 for community organizations who wish to
purchase the DVD for a public event and keep the DVD afterward, or $75 for community organizations who wish to rent the DVD for their event
and then return it afterward. If you guys already have the DVD and just want to host a single additional screening, you can go the $75 route. If
you want to do several additional screenings, I'd go the $150 route, because this will give you the rights to show the film in a public setting for as
long as the DVD lasts. (In other words, if you take good care of the DVD, you can basically show the film in public settings indefinitely. All you
have to do is buy the $150 rights once.)
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RAP on the Web
Rise Above Plastics (RAP) likes to stay connected with our supporters as much as possible and
we welcome your feedback and ideas. Here are some of the main places you can find more info
and stay connected:
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http://www.surfrider.org/rap
http://www.facebook.com/riseaboveplastic
http://twitter.com/riseaboveplstcs
http://www.facebook.com/plasticsFAIL
http://www.surfrider.org/campaigns
Surfrider Foundation has some great resources such as the Coastal Blog, the Beachapedia
coastal info wiki and the new public forums where you can share your ideas and ask any
questions you may have about RAP. Chapternet is a great internal Surfrider resource:
- Rise Above Plastics section of the http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog
- http://www.beachapedia.org
http://chapternet.surfrider.org/programs/rise-above-plastics/
Other resources we encourage you to share:
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Rise Above Plastics Pledge
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Balloon Awareness Book For Kids: Up, Up and Away…Not! (Includes Spanish translation)
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Surfrider Foundation video PSA’s such as Plastics Kill
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RAP featured in Surfrider’s ‘Making Waves’: June 2011, April 2011 and Feb 2011
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Plastic Sushi print/viral PSA’s.
Plastic Reduction Ordinances and Bills
Plastic reduction ordinances and bills often have the best cumulative impact for the environment.
The RAP Toolkit and most of the materials to follow focus on plastic bag ordinances, but
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smoking ordinances for beaches, polystyrene foodware ordinances and bottle redemption bills
can also make a big impact for cleaner oceans. For more info on those you can email Bill:
bhickman@surfrider.org
Plastic bag ordinance requirements vary from state to state and city to city. When possible we
encourage seeking a statewide bag bill that establishes a level playing field for retailers but our
specialty is at the local level. A plastic bag ban with a fee for recycled paper bags has the best
impact for the environment. Grocers often support statewide bills because they can be easier to
implement and turn carryout bag costs into possible reusable bag profits.
Here is a good example of language for a Reusable Bag Ordinance from San Jose, CA.
Sample Petition
Official petitions to get initiatives approved as a ballot measure often have certain requirements
such as signers must be registered voters, you must get their full address, etc. Be sure to check
with your City Attorney for any requirements before creating your local petition.
This petition is general and designed to show City Council strong public support. Here’s an
example to start with for you to edit:
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Petition to Reduce Plastic Checkout Bag Litter in Ventura – Reusable Bag Ordinance
Petition summary and
background
Action petitioned for
Printed Name
The Ventura City Council will be discussing a Reusable Bag Ordinance as part of a regional plan to help reduce
plastic pollution. The ordinance will include an elimination of free plastic checkout bags and a small fee on
paper bags at most food retailers. Plastic bag litter is an eyesore, does not biodegrade, costs taxpayer dollars
to clean up, can harm wildlife and is part of the plastic soup in building in the ocean. More info:
www.surfrider.org/BYOBventura
We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who urge our leaders to act now to pass a Reusable Bag
Ordinance in Ventura.
Signature
Address (at least street & zip code)
Comment
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Date
Sample Letter to City Council / Mayor
Here’s an example of the type of letter that you can send your local mayor and/or city council to help
introduce the issue and see if they will support an ordinance. As with all of these examples, do not just
cut and paste the letter but be sure to personalize it to your community.
Month, Day, Year
(Anytown) Mayor and City Council
RE: Reusable Bag Ordinance to Reduce Plastic Checkout Bag Litter
Dear Mayor and City Council Members:
I have written this letter to inform you of the far-reaching damage caused by plastic checkout bags, and a
solution. While these bags are designed to be disposable and used for only minutes, they last for
thousands of years since they are not biodegradable. Something is wrong here. These bags have
caused flooding by clogging sewer lines, litter our roadways, beaches, and oceans, and kill hundreds of
thousands of marine animals annually. I am requesting that the (Anytown) City Council consider adopting
an ordinance to eliminate plastic checkout bags in our City, and impose a fee for paper bags. Through this
ordinance, and education efforts, it is my hope that our citizens will change their habits and start shopping
with reusable bags. It has worked in other communities and can work here.
Plastic wreaks havoc on our waterways and marine environment. Plastic trash does not degrade in the
ocean; it merely breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, which are often mistaken for food by
marine life. Thousands of sea birds and marine mammals perish every year from ingestion or
entanglement in plastic in the ocean. Even though several thousand volunteers work tirelessly to address
this issue, the current institutional controls simply are not working. There is an increasingly dramatic
effect of trash on our oceans, waves and beaches. Clean waterways are part of a healthy environment
that serves our communities in terms of recreation, public health, and the promotion of the “wise use” of
water.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency approximately 100 billion plastic shopping bags are
used annually in the United States. On Coastal Cleanup Day in September 2013, over one million plastic
bags were picked up off beaches worldwide. Plastic bags were dubbed the most ubiquitous consumer
item by Guinness World Records and are designed to last for minutes but persist in our marine
environment for hundreds of years. Approximately 60 to 80% of all marine debris and 90% of floating
debris is plastic and comes from mostly land-based sources. This plastic pollution poses a persistent
threat to marine life. Plastic litter has impacted over 267 species worldwide. (Anytown) residents use an
estimated XX single-use plastic bags every year, while our entire state sends roughly XX single-use
plastic bags to landfills annually. As proven over the last three years, we cannot recycle our way out of
this problem and urgent action is needed to help reduce this pollution. Despite efforts to expand recycling
programs, less than 5% of single-use plastic bags are currently being recycled.
The cleanup of litter from single-use bags puts an additional strain on our economy. Costs that local
governments incur annually for cleaning littered streets, beaches and installing trash control devices to
comply with total maximum daily load limits (TMDLs) for trash under the Clean Water Act. Also, plastic
bags can clog catch basin inserts and screens thereby increasing local flood risks. Could some of that
maintenance money be saved and spent on schools or police?
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According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, of curbside collected bags, approximately
90% of the bags collected and taken to recycling facilities are not recycled, but instead taken to landfills
for the following reasons:

Single use plastic carryout bags have a high contamination rate due to reuse as a
household trash bin liner or by coming into contact with other contaminants (e.g., pet waste)
when placed in the collection bin. As the contamination rate increases, the quality of the plastic
resin is reduced.

Single use plastic carryout bags interfere with the machinery and have a tendency to jam
the screens used to separate materials.

It is not cost efficient to recycle single use plastic carryout bags due to lack of suitable
markets. The domestic market for single use plastic carryout bags is extremely limited, especially
in California.
I encourage you to investigate an elimination of plastic bags with a fee on paper bags. This ordinance will
likely lead to an increase in the use of reusable bags that are a more sustainable alternative to single-use
bags. A fee associated with paper bags will hopefully avoid any increase in their usage. I am happy to
take the lead and organize volunteers to educate shoppers and the general public about the detriments of
single-use plastic bags, and have the support from local organizations such as Surfrider Foundation, and
their Rise Above Plastics program, to assist me as well. Through education and awareness efforts, we
can encourage citizens to be responsible, and to shop with reusable bags to cut back on the production
and waste of single-use bags, both paper and plastic.
I think this quote by Margaret Mead says it all. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” As Mayor and City Council
members, you are in a position to help effect this change.
Sincerely,
Action Alert and Phone Tree Ideas
Sending messages to the decision makers and rallying support within your community are key
components to success. The RAP Toolkit describes the overall process and two elements are setting up
online action alerts and physical phone trees. Action alerts typically send an automated email to decision
makers, which can provide some value. Personalized emails are a little better and phone calls from
supporters to their office can have even more impact. Hand written letters and in person visits to
legislators have the greatest impact.
Surfrider can help you set up an online action alert that you can use locally. Here’s some sample
website/email text and some phone tree pointers…
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Website and Eblast Info:
(Anytown) Carryout Bag Ordinance Update:
The (Anytown) Carryout Bag Ordinance is scheduled to come before City Council on Tuesday, May 17 Click Here (insert link) for info on the ordinance and why it is needed.
There are two ways to support this ordinance to help reduce plastic pollution:
1) Attend the (Anytown) City Council meeting on Tuesday 5/17. The meeting starts at 5:00 and
will be at Council Chambers, (Address Here).
It looks like this will be the first agenda item, you can check on the final status, as it gets closer:
(link to city council meeting agenda if possible)
There is typically a public comment period where you can take up to 3 minutes to speak about
reasons you support this ordinance.
2) Call, fax or email your city councilmember to let them know you support the ordinance. Taking
30 seconds to call and say, “My name is _______ and I live on _______ street in _________.
I
wanted to call to let councilmember _______ know that I support the single-use bag ordinance” is
VERY effective. You can also include personal reasons you support the ordinance.
Here’s a list of Councilmembers and their contact info…
(Include a list of councilmember contact info)
Here’s more sample text for emails to councilmembers. Be sure to update it for your local ordinance info
and encourage supporters to personalize it.
“Hello Councilmember ___________
I support the single-use bag ordinance for (Anytown) as proposed. The ordinance is well written and I am
confident that when you review all of the information you will agree this is good for (Anytown).
Plastic pollution and marine debris are global issues that we need to address locally and this ordinance is
a great step in the right direction. Plastic bags are a drain on our fossil fuels and threaten our marine
environment in (Local Places).
In addition to helping protect coastal and marine environments this ordinance can help save money for
the City of (Anytown) with decreased maintenance costs and capital projects that try to catch litter before
it becomes marine debris. Business can save money or pass the savings on to customers since they
won’t need to purchase plastic bags and paper bags will have a 10-cent fee. It’s an equal playing field for
businesses and consumers win when we bring our reusable bags.
Thank you,
Name and address”
Phone Tree Ideas:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Get phone # list of local Surfrider Chapter members and other supporters if possible.
Develop script for callers to use (see below)
Recruit callers – you can help from home in one hour or less! (5-10 needed)
Execute on planned date (at central location or from home)
Phone Tree Guidelines:
Each volunteer will place 25 to 50 calls that should be between 60 and 120 seconds each. Approx. 40%
will be left a voice mail and are the quickest. Approx. 50% answer, listen to the info and say ‘thanks’, for a
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relatively short call. Approx. 10% ask a question or two and make for the longest calls.
Speak at a moderate pace and smile a couple of times during the script. All of the feedback is typically
positive (that’s why they are Surfrider members!) but if you do happen to call someone opposed to the
ordinance, don’t get in a debate. Keep the call quick and thank them for supporting Surfrider in our many
other efforts.
Phone Tree Script:
Hello, my name is _________ with the Surfrider Foundation calling with a quick reminder about the
proposed __________ Single Use Carryout Bag Ordinance that we support to help reduce plastic
pollution, is _________ available?
There is an important city council hearing on ________, at the Council Chambers. The best way to help
reduce plastic pollution is by attending the meeting and stating your support for the ordinance. If you can’t
make the meeting, please take a minute to contact your city councilmember to let them know you support
the “Single Use Carryout Bag Ordinance”. More details and contact info is online at (website or facebook
page)
City Council Hearing Talking Points
Talking Points for a City Council Meeting: Be sure to personalize these for your local community and
ordinance. Public testimony is usually limited to two or three minutes so use your time well. Focus on a
few key points instead of trying to rattle off as many facts as possible. If you have multiple speakers be
sure to have diverse speeches prepared. If you have a large crowd of supporters, maybe one person
could take a moment to ask them all to stand up to register their support rather than have a parade of
speakers with the same message. Here are a few examples of talking points that you can use:
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There is no such thing as a free bag. Retailers subsidize their carryout bags by building the costs
into their prices. Taxpayers pay for carryout bags through increased litter abatement / city
maintenance needs. Recycling centers pay for them when they gum up the recycling process for
more profitable items such as PET plastic and aluminum cans. Right now people who are doing the
right thing by bringing their reusable bags are helping to pay for the carryout bags other people
use.
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Cities have maintenance costs associated with marine debris such as plastic bags and many
spend money on capital projects designed to catch litter and debris before they are discharged to
local rivers and beaches. Each year, approximately x million plastic carryout bags are used in
(the area).
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Recycling plastic bags is not the answer. The highest stat I have seen for plastic bag recycling is
10% and lots of those get shipped overseas. That leaves 5.4 billion bags a year that go to local
landfills or are littered. Sure, some people use bags for dog poo or a can liner but there is typically
lots of other plastic packaging that could be used for that such as cereal bags, dog food bags,
produce bags, etc.
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As population increases, plastic pollution will become an even bigger issue if we don’t act on it
now. Think globally and act locally. (Be sure to add in any urban blight or social justice angles that
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may be important in your community.)
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Do the right thing and lead by example, please support this carryout bag ordinance.
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Review the Coastal Blog, Beachapedia and other resources mentioned at the beginning of this
document updated info and suggestions.
Media Tips
There are great online resources for both conventional and social media efforts. Sending out press
releases for events or letters to the editor for issues to your local print, radio and TV outlets can help to
get your views to the general public and more people to your events and the city council meetings. If you
organize events try to get them listed in as many event calendars as possible. Here’s where you can find
Surfrider’s Press Center: www.surfrider.org/pages/press-center
Social media is constantly evolving, here are some tips we can offer: Campaigns should develop one
voice and stick to that. Be conversational with posts - ask for feedback. If someone posts a question on a
Facebook wall, make sure you reply to it. If someone leaves a negative comment, address it don't delete
it. Understand that social media is the new customer service - it's a great way to real time chat with
people that believe in Surfrider.
As far as posts, try to vary the message by posting images, video, conversational items, science facts,
and relevant news stories. Allow fans to debate. Use Twitter as a way to recruit volunteers - even ask for
intern/volunteer help. As far as event promotion, find sympathetic organizations/companies on Facebook
and Twitter and try to promote your events on their pages. Don't do it too often, but when you feel it is
relevant.
Use Hootsuite.com - it allows you to schedule posts on both Facebook and Twitter and even will track
how many people are clicking links that you post. Try not to post the same messages on Twitter and
Facebook at the same time - you want to make sure you're hitting all kinds of audiences with your
message, so if you post a comment about an upcoming event on Facebook at noon, don't post it on
Twitter until 1pm (people are online at all different times, and you want to make sure you're sending the
info to as many people as possible). Additionally, it's ok to post the same message on Twitter a couple of
times, just spread it out over a couple of days at varying times.
Experts say to post to Twitter 5-7 times a day. Scheduling tweets helps with this. Take this as an
opportunity to direct people to your individual chapter RAP site or info on upcoming workshops, rallies,
etc. Post facts about plastic waste or ask people to fill out the RAP pledge or an action alert.
Campaign Worksheet for a Plastic Pollution Reduction Ordinance
## PLEASE review the Rise Above Plastics Toolkit before completing this planner. ##
Campaign Name, Location and Surfrider Foundation Chapter:
Name and Contact Info for Campaign Lead:
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Goals: What are the goals for this campaign?
Long-Term: Long-Term Goals are the goals that you eventually hope to win, and toward which the
current campaign is a step.
Intermediate: These are the goals that you hope to win in this campaign.
Short-Term: These goals are steps toward your intermediate goals.
Organizational Considerations:
You list what resources you have to put into the campaign (expenses), what chapter gains you want to
come out of the campaign (income), and any internal problems that have to be solved. Start with
resources. This is essentially your campaign budget for both funds and volunteer resources. Consider
these to be investments. List the amount of money you are putting into the campaign and the amount that
needs to be raised. List the volunteers and time requirements. List what the chapter wants to get out of
the campaign, in addition to winning the issue. "We want to increase active membership and keep these
new members involved after this campaign is over". Internal problems implies to both within your chapter
(e.g. volunteer relationships) and problems within constituents or allied organizations.
1. What resources could the chapter bring to the campaign?
2. What specific ways can the chapter be strengthened by this campaign?
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3. Any potential internal problems need to be considered?
Constituencies, Allies and Opponents: Who cares about this problem? Why do they care? What do
they stand to win or lose? What power do they have and how are they organized?
Constituencies:
Allies:
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Opponents:
Targets:
The person with the power to give you what you want is often referred to as the "target" of the campaign.
This means that by virtue of having the power to give you what you want, that person is the focus of the
campaign. The target is always a person. "Personalize the target" is a fundamental rule of organizing.
Even if the powers that be are an institution such as a city council or board of directors, personalize it.
Find out the name of the person who can make the decision, or at least strongly influence it. Make that
person the target.
A secondary target is a person who has more power over the primary target than you do. But, you have
more power over this person than you have over the primary target. When you list secondary targets,
write down what power you have over them, and what power they have over the primary target. Don't feel
obliged to have a secondary target if you have power over the primary one.
1. Who has the power to solve the problems and grant your demands?
2. Who are your secondary targets?
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3. What are the vulnerabilities of each target?
Tactics: What tactics might be used during this campaign? Tactics are steps in carrying out your overall
plan. They are the specific things that you do to the targets to put pressure on them. When you list tactics,
put down who will do what, and to whom. Tactics should be fun. They should be within the experience of
your members, but outside the experience of your targets. Every tactic has an element of power behind it.
None should be purely symbolic. Different tactics require different levels of organizational strength and
sophistication to use. For that reason, some work better at the beginning of a campaign and some can
only be used later after a certain level of strength is reached.
1. For each target, list the tactics that each constituent group can best use to make its power felt.
2. Tactics must be:
• In context
• Flexible
• Directed at a specific target
• Make sense to the membership/chapter
• Be backed up by a specific form of power
3. Tactics include:
• Media events
• Outreach events, Bag It film screenings
• Speaking at public hearings
• Online social media efforts
• Accountability sessions and negotiations with decision makers
Tactics to influence the Targets:
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Time Lines
To finish off the planning process, make time lines for the campaign. Include all the major campaign
events and deadlines for preparing the publicity for each.
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