Hailey, Idaho: High school environmental club gets plastic bag ordinance on Nov 8th ballot

W.A.T.E.R. (We Appreciate the Earth's Resources) - a high school club aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues - gathered enough signatures to get a plastic bag ordinance on the November 8th ballot in the City of Hailey, Idaho. This garnered the attention Hilex Poly, one of the biggest plastic bag manufacturers in the US.  According to W.A.T.E.R., Hilex Poly hired a major New York lobbyist group to assist it in its public relations campaign in Hailey (population 6, 200).  In an editorial to the local paper, the high school students wrote:

Representatives of Hilex Poly have formed a committee called "No on the bag ban." That committee has mailed Hailey residents non-recyclable cards and taken out newspaper advertisement urging residents to vote "no" on the initiative. The Hilex Poly committee has also created a website and placed an ad on Facebook.

. . . .

Please say "no" to out-of-state influences, "no" to New York publicists and "no" to corporate lobbyists, and vote "yes" to local control and "yes" to the Plastic Bag Reduction Act.

It seems that these high school students are in the middle of a great civics lesson - let's hope that Hailey residents see past Hilex Poly's propaganda and vote for the plastic bag ordinance on Tuesday!

Hilex Poly's name may sound familiar.  That's because they sued ChicoBag for "talking trash" about plastic bags and, most recently, they sued LA County under Prop 26. That's in addition to lobbying against plastic bag ordinances all over the country.