Thanks to all OF OUR SB51 ADVOCATES & SUPPORTERS

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A priority for Plastic Free Delaware and more than four years in the works, Senate Bill 51 (as amended) finally won approval of both Chambers of the state legislature and was signed into law by Governor Carney on August 22, 2023.  

Led by dogged prime sponsors, Senator Trey Paradee and Representative Paul Baumbach, and joined by Representative Sophie Phillips,  SB51 bans expanded polystyrene foam and plastic picks, as well as making plastic straws available only upon request, in Delaware dining establishments.  The effective date is July 1, 2025 giving restaurants plenty of time to make the shift.  

Delaware now joins neighboring states and large cities, and many more local governments including Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, D.C., Vermont, Colorado, and NYC who already have similar laws in place - the eleventh state to do so.  

In addition to the many individuals who reached out to state legislators asking for support on SB51, Plastic Free Delaware would like to thank its coalition partners: Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Delaware Nature Society, Oceana, League of Women Voters of Delaware, Surfrider Foundation Delaware Chapter, MERR Institute, Delaware-Surf-Fishing.com, Delaware Interfaith Power & Light, Aquarium Divers for Coral Restoration, and the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays - all of whom helped make passage of this legislation possible.

Thank you, Mr. President. None of this is easy. Environmental policy and changing our habits, even when we know something is bad for us is just not an easy thing because there are so many different elements that are affected. There’s the employment element, there’s the convenience element, there are all sorts of other public policy issues. 

But we know how bad plastics are. We know how bad they are when they degrade into our ecosystems, when they degrade into microplastics; they are everywhere. We have an addiction, an addiction that was fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. I think it’s 200-250x more plastics that we have now in use than we did pre-pandemic because everything is single use and we’re very focused on that. We have to dial that back. We have to dial it back. 

We’ve started that with the single-use plastics and the single-use plastic bags; this is going to be a process. This is opening the door. It’s getting worse and worse every single year. It’s not like we don’t know the health impacts, we do, we’re just kind of choosing not to look at it because we’re so addicted to this stuff. 

Every year, I do the beach cleanups. I do it more than once a year. I lead little groups of folks, particularly young people to get them used to seeing where this stuff ends up. We go along with our bags and our little clipboards and we’re writing down the number of tires and glass bottles and cans and try to write down the number of plastics. First of all, there are thousands and thousands of pieces from sizes that you can pick up to sizes that you can’t. You can’t pick it all up because it’s tiny little pieces. So you have to leave it there. 

So what you’re also left with is: how do we fix this going forward? We have to begin to dial it back and start making some of those difficult decisions that will spur innovation, because public policy needs to go in this direction. Our companies, like DART, thank goodness they’re stepping up and they’re the ones doing the recycling of polystyrene. There’s nobody else doing it here. They’re doing it because they’re affected by it, because it’s part of their bottom line, and because they know, public policy wise, this whole area is evolving. Just like the oil companies that are getting involved in renewables, they know that if they want to stay in communities, they want to continue with the tax base, they’ve got to evolve with the times too. 

We’re part of that evolution. We cause that evolution. We’re the ones that are setting the public policy, because we’re educated on the issues, we listen to all sides, we listen to our colleagues that represent all sides. We respect our colleagues that represent all sides and other viewpoints. When it comes down to time to actually vote on these things, to begin to move this ship in the direction of less plastics, better health for us and our environment, we have to do that. We have the opportunity to do that. We have the opportunity to do that right now, and that’s what I intend to do. I really want to thank my colleague Senator Paradee for bringing this to the floor and having the courage to do this and a number of very big bills this session. Senator Paradee, you are the superstar, and I am going to be voting happily in favor of this bill. Thank you.

CONTACT INFO FOR YOUR DELAWARE STATE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES 

Who represents me? 

FOR ACTION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL, CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES:

U.S. Senators

Senator Christopher Coons
Contact Via Web Form 

Washington Office:
383 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5042
Fax: (202) 228-3075

Main District Office:
1105 N. Market St., Ste. 2000
Wilmington, DE 19801-1233
Phone: (302) 573-6345
Fax: (302) 573-6351

Senator Tom Carper
Contact Via Web Form

Washington Office:
513 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0801
Phone: (202) 224-2441
Fax: (202) 228-2190

Main District Office:
2215 Federal Bldg., 300 S. New St.
Dover, DE 19904
Phone: (302) 674-3308
Fax: (302) 674-5464

U.S. Congressional Representative

Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester
Contact Via Web Form

Washington Office:
1123 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4165
Fax: (202) 225-0011

Main District Office:
1105 North Walnut Street, Suite 400
Wilmington, DE 19801

302-830-2330