Useful Links

The Majestic Plastic Bag – A Mockumentary — Sponsored by Heal the Bay and narrated by Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons, this “mockumentary” follows a plastic bag as it "encounters enemies and escapes death on its epic migration to its final destination: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch." (2010, 3:59)
Plastic State of Mind Parody Video (fakeplasticfish.com) — Parody video of Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind that discourages single-use plastic bag use. (2010, 2:44)
Bag It (The Movie) — Tells the worldwide story of plastic use, particularly the reliance on single-use plastic checkout bags. (2010, 1:18)

Albatross [trailer] — A film by Chris Jordan that explores the plight of Laysan albatross plagued by ingestion of plastic trash. (2017, 3:49)
5 Gyres North Atlantic Gyre Expedition Film — A short film by Jeneene Chatowsky about the sailing expedition with The 5 Gyres Institute featuring Jennie from plasticbaglaws.org. (2013, 6:05)
Message in the Waves — BBC documentary about how plastics are affecting the people and wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands. Horrific scenes showing Albatross’ ingestion of plastic. This film inspired many towns in the UK to go plastic bag free.
Smog of the Sea — The Smog of the Sea chronicles a 1-week journey through the remote waters of the Sargasso Sea. (2018, 30:00)

Heal the Bay (Santa Monica, CA) — Heal the Bay has sponsored several California Bills relating to plastic bags, and was instrumental behind many southern California ordinances.
Plastic Pollution Coalition — A growing global alliance of individuals, organizations, businesses, and policymakers working toward a world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, animals, waterways and oceans, and the environment.
Ocean Conservancy — A collection of reports from coastal cleanups that document plastic bags as litter on our beaches.

Algalita Marine Research Foundation (Long Beach, CA) — The experts regarding marine plastic debris and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – examining the scope of plastic contamination and the implications this pollution has on the food chain.
The 5 Gyres Institute — A great website about ocean gyres – check out the Global Research page of for a collection of scientific studies and articles.
Surfrider Foundation - Surfrider is a community of everyday people who passionately protect our playground - the ocean, waves, and beaches that provide us so much enjoyment.

BYOBag Marin — A local Marin County program to encourage the use of reusable bags.
City of Manhattan Beach: Plastic Bag Ban and Reusable Bag Program — Summarizes Manhattan Beach’s plight to ban plastic bags and links to all of the pertinent documents
San Francisco Department of the Environment — San Francisco was where the US plastic bag ban phenomena started – this is the story on SF DOE’s website.
portlandonline.com – Plastic Bag Ban (Portland, OR) — This is the City of Portland’s website and includes Portland’s draft plastic bag ban and FAQs regarding the draft ordinance.
AboutTheBag.com — This wesbite details LA County’s single-use bag ordinance and includes materials from the “Day Without A Bag Summit.” This is a great resource for California cities considering similar ordinances.

Team Marine — Santa Monica students dedicated to banning single use plastics – in collaboration with Heal the Bay and Surfrider Club.

BagItNYC — Surfrider NYC’s website for New Yorkers that are interested in advocating for the reduction of single-use bag consumption.
Citizens Campaign for the Environment — CCE has a great single-use bag reduction legislative campaign focusing on Long Island and Westchester County – just outside NYC.
Surfrider NYC — Surfrider NYC’s Rise Above Plastics campaign focuses on raising awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution in the marine environment and advocating for a reduction of single-use plastic bags.
New York Restoration Project — NYRP’s Bag Snagging Program focuses on removing plastic bags from trees in NYC.

Please see the Legislation page for a list of websites that track bag laws.
Plastic Bag Ban Report — a helpful website that tracks plastic bag laws in the U.S.created by Ted Duboise, a businessman residing in the Atlanta, Georgia

plasticbagrecycling.org — Sponsored by the plastics industry (American Chemistry Council) and biased toward plastic bag recycling as the answer to the plastic bag problem. The virtues of plastic bag recycling are limited, but the website is useful.
American Chemistry Council – Progressive Bag Affilitates (PBA) — Division of the largest plastic bag industry group – contributed at least $729,000 to the campaign against Seattle’s plastic bag tax. Promoting the status quo under the guise of promoting recycling, proper reuse and disposal of plastic bags.
Film and Bag Federation (FBF) — Trade industry that represents the plastic bag and film industries regionally and nationally, actively promotes industry growth.
thetruthaboutplasticbags.com — Industry-sponsored website that claims that plastic bags are the “eco-friendly bag alternative.”
plasticbagfacts.org — Sponsored by the American Chemistry Council, includes a tab entitled “Recycling is the Solution.”
americanrecycler.com — Recycling industry blog that (surprise!) supports plastic bag recycling as the ultimate answer.
Save The Plastic Bag Coalition — SPBC is an unincorporated association of plastic bag manufacturers that formed to “respond to environmental misinformation about plastic bags.” SPBC sues and threatens to sue California municipalities that consider adopting plastic bag ordinances.