[MLA or Counsellor Name Here]

[MLA or Counsellor Address Here]

                                                                                        [Date Here]

Dear Mr./Mrs. __________ MLA or Dear Counsellor __________

I am a resident of your constituency and am concerned about single use plastic.

Single use plastic (water bottles, plastic bags, straws, etc.) are polluting our planet and our province.  The problem with single use plastic is that it is used only once and then thrown away.  According to Science Magazine, approximately 79% of all plastic waste ends up in landfills.  A strong disadvantage is that plastic takes a long time to decompose.  For example, a plastic water bottle takes up to 450 years to break down in a landfill.  Did you know that approximately 1 000 000 water bottles are purchased every minute (source: Euromonitor)?

A lot of single use plastic ends up in the ocean.  The United Nations has warned that marine life is facing irreparable damage from the million of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in oceans every year.  The plastic waste accumulates in the five gyres around the globe (swirling circular currents).  The plastic is visible to the naked eye in many places.  Marine life can become entangled in the plastic or mistake it for food.  Once consumed, digestive system damage can result and malnutrition which can ultimately lead to death.  The plastic is reduced to very small pieces (less than 5 millimetres) called microplastics because of the wave action and are considered toxic if ingested because toxins adhere to the plastic.  Researcher Professor Maria Fossi of the University of Siena in Italy stated that exposure to these plastic-associated toxins pose a major threat to the health of marine life since it can alter the hormones, which regulate the body's growth and development, metabolism, and reproductive functions, among other things.  Marine life is part of the food web and changes in marine life affect all living organisms.

Remember that all water is connected, so single use plastic pollution affects everyone worldwide.  Many countries are trying to tackle plastic pollution, for example, Costa Rica plans to ban all single use plastic by 2021 and the UK Government recently announced big plans to cut all avoidable plastic waste by 2042.

Until recently, Nova Scotia sent a lot of its plastics to China to be burned.  Think of the pollution created to transport the plastics and then the toxins released into the air when burned.  China announced that they would no longer import recyclables in 2018, so Nova Scotia sent 175 tonnes of plastic to an out of province landfill and the remaining 125 tonnes to a landfill in Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia needs to take action now.  We simply can’t allow plastic to be thrown in our landfills after one use.  Nova Scotia needs to ban all single use plastic now and come up with and support creative alternatives.  Nova Scotians will support a ban on single use plastic once educated on the problems that it causes.  I support a ban of single use plastic in Nova Scotia.

Please feel free to contact me further to discuss this issue at your earliest convenience,  [Your phone # or mailing address].

Kind regards,

[Your Signature]