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A Missouri lawmaker hopes legislation filed this year will help to eliminate single-use plastics from the state's parks.
Earlier this year, Rep. Colin Wellenkamp (R - 105th District) filed House Bill 3193, legislation that would phase out single-use plastics like plastic silverware, bags, foam takeout containers, and plastic water bottles from Missouri state parks and historic sites.
If approved, it would apply to the concession stands and any gift or retail shops in those state parks.
"So, at least we can keep plastic waste out of these pristine, ecologically significant and historically important places," Wellenkamp told me.
The legislator admits this is just small step in addressing what he and environmentalists see as a bigger problem.
In Missouri, there's actually a law that bans cities and municipalities from banning single-use plastics.
Wellenkamp's initial bill sought to overturn that preemptive ban, something environmental groups have been pushing for.
"It just basically gets us back to square one in terms of local control, and municipalities being able to do something about it if they want to," Missouri River Bird Observatory's Dana Ripper told me.
But that part was eventually dropped from House Bill 3193 in order to get a hearing, scheduled for Monday, April 13, at the State Capitol in Jefferson City.
"I think removing the preemption, the preemptive ban on bans that exists today statewide, is going to be a larger, more time-consuming conversation," Wellenkamp said. "I’m up for doing that. I am ready to begin and have that debate, I’m ready to begin to go down that road. I just think it’s going to take some time to get there. But, there are things we can do right now that maybe don’t take as much time, and that’s really what I’m trying to achieve in the near term."
In order to further support Wellenkamp's bill and push other lawmakers to support a reversal of Missouri's preemptive ban on banning single-use plastics, the Missouri River Bird Observatory and Stream Teams United are hosting a free workshop open to this weekend.
It offers the public a chance to learn more about plastic pollution in the environment and how to best combat it.
"We will give attendees a background about the entire plastic pollution situation, its history. We’ll talk about effective community action and outreach," Ripper told me. "And then we’ll talk about some of the things that communities can really do, locally, to sort of get a handle on this problem that they’re concerned about."
The workshop runs from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 11, at the Mid-America Regional Council, 600 Broadway Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri. A link to register is available.
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