Virginia Bottle Bill Campaign

This blog post was written by Sadie Call, a 2025 Marine Plastics Ambassador.

The Virginia Bottle Bill Campaign came from an idea in my career path. I knew I wanted to do policy work in the future, so I partnered with a grassroots organization (Virginia Bottle Bill Organization) to help them create a beautiful campaign for their bottle bill, plus, move ahead of what they had already worked on. The objectives to this project were to establish precedence with a partnering organization, fluently learn what a bottle bill is and the bill the organization wrote, contact political officials, organizations, and businesses, table for education and petition signers, post on social media and other news outlets, and sign on with a delegate and state senator to sponsor the bill. My inspiration to take action on marine plastics was my involvement in the Plastic Ocean Project at UNC-Wilmington. I saw our beautiful beaches littered with 100’s of pounds of trash and it saddened me for those that may not get to see beautiful wonders like I did as a child because of pollution. This project highlights EarthEcho Marine Plastics Ambassador Program goals by leading young people (like myself) to create a project that reduces plastic pollution and develops leadership skills in environmental advocacy.

Sadie Call (EarthEcho Marine Plastics Ambassador) tabling a GoFest in Roanoke, VA for bottle bill petition signers (left). Tabling event held at Richmond Public Library to educate the public about the bottle bill (right).

‍Project Details and Activities

  • Started by contacting Virginia Bottle Bill Organization about a collaboration project
  • Tabled at Richmond Public Library, Eco-Inspired Zero Waste Refillery, and GoFest at Roanoke
  • Our Partners/Supporters: Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Conservation Network, Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Virginia Department of Health, Delegate Jackie Glass, Senator Ryan McDougle, Eco-Inspired Zero Waste Refillery, and many more.
  • Ran social media pages for outreach, wins, and education
  • Contacted political figures, organizations, and businesses
  • Educated at tabling events to receive petition signers
Jaimi McPeek (Virginia Bottle Bill Organization Legislative Director) and Sadie Call (EarthEcho Marine Plastics Ambassador) at a meeting with Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) to secure a partnership on their bottle bill (left).  Handmade infographic by Sadie Call and Jaimi McPeek describing the bottle bill to those that may not know what a bottle bill entails (right).

‍Project Impact

  • Direct and Indirect: 8000+ people and participants
  • Collected 30 pounds worth of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and aluminum cans to dispose of
  • Many participants said this would be an amazing change to their community as it’s a little extra income and better a system that is falsely advertised. They also enjoyed that the bill allows them to be more responsible with their waste (deposit on items that can be recycled vs tax on items that can not).
  • How many people have been exposed to your message (e.g., social media reach, event attendance, media coverage)]
  • Social media: 3000+ people (followers and direct messaging)
  • Event attendance: 40,500 (GoFest in Roanoke had 40,000 people attend)
  • Media coverage: covered by one newspaper, one blog, and one interview by a nonprofit

The fluidity of the project by having a throughout plan 24/7, the collaboration process with Virginia Bottle Bill organization, and the tabling events and growing support for the bottle bill. Learning social media with no background in media design, talking to political figures 1:1, and tailoring my project to meet each side of politics. I learned that Policy campaigning is incredibly challenging when you’re at the grassroots level, it takes 50 delegates/representatives from each county to respond to create an issue on the agenda process (which is kind of sad when you want to fight for change), campaigning takes patience, determination, and encouragement (a small win is a big win at the grassroots level), and my ambassadors and the EarthEcho team help in more ways then I could imagine. This project tested many leaps of faith in my experience with policy, but I got the opportunity to extend my knowledge in marine science and pollution, which is something I have deeply admired since I was a child.

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Water quality event held at Belle Isle State Park in Richmond, VA to collect litter and water quality data for the bottle bill.

In the future, I want to continue to table with VA Bottle Bill organization to increase petition signers, take the bill to the General Assembly 2026 session meeting, incorporate litter data, clean-up data, water-quality data, and public health data into the bill by partnering with various organizations, and potentially secure a bottle bill and EPR law for Virginia within the next year or two.