Staff from the Environmental Protection Agency will present a Presidential Environmental Youth Award to 25 students and former students at Boulder’s Fairview High School this evening for their efforts to get Boulder City Council to pass an ordinance placing a 10-cent fee on paper and plastic bags.
Over an 18-month period, the students, part of the school’s Net Zero Club, spoke at city council meetings, advocated at other community events and wrote letters to the editor of the Boulder Daily Camera. In November 2012, Boulder City Council passed the ordinance.
City staff have estimated the ordinance, which takes effect on July 13, 2013, will save 10,000,000 bags and raise $400,000 in annual fees.
Every year, the EPA presents one Presidential Environmental Youth award in each of its 10 regions. The Net Zero Club, which also won the award in 2010, is the 2012 recipient for region 8, which includes Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota.