To the Editor:

To the voters of Tisbury and Edgartown, we are aware that things are not ideal in our world right now, and that our plastic bottle bylaw might not be the most important topic of the day. We acknowledge the crisis that our country is in; however, we still have hope that you care about this issue as much as we do. Town meetings are coming up on June 13. Our bylaw that limits the sale and distribution of plastic water and soda bottles under 34 oz. is on the warrant for both towns (No. 14 in Tisbury, and No. 48 in Edgartown). If you are attending a town meeting, please VOTE on our bylaw. We are asking that you TAKE ACTION NOW, and do not put off or deny an important issue. There are several reasons for our bylaw:

  1. Plastic contributes to climate change.
  2. Plastic is harmful to wildlife.
  3. Plastic is harmful to human health.
  4. West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Aquinnah voted YES on this bylaw last year, which already went into effect on May 1, 2020.
  5. This bylaw for Tisbury and Edgartown will not go into effect until May 1, 2021.
  6. There are many great alternatives to small plastic bottles.
  7. This bylaw only affects plastic water/soda bottles under 34 oz. All larger sizes will still be readily available.

If it weren’t for this pandemic, we would be holding forums and discussing this bylaw with you. We invite you to submit any questions you may have to plasticfreemv@gmail.com, or take a look at our website (plasticfreemv.com), FB, and Instagram accounts. You may also attend our Zoom meetings, every weekday at 11 am; please send us an email for the link. We understand the need for an expedited town meeting, so we are asking you to please get in touch with us or join one of our daily Zoom meetings to get your questions answered before making a decision.

Thank you all for your support of our hard work over the past several years.

Emma, Quinlan, Elliot, Tasman, Jean, Cameron, Jasper
Plastic Free MV