Urge Congress to Break Free From Plastic
By Mark J. Palmer
Major legislation, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, has been introduced in both the House of Representatives and Senate to address the growing crisis of plastics in the environment, and YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED!
Plastics are a proliferating problem worldwide, especially in our oceans. Incidents of whales, dolphins and sea turtles perishing and washing ashore with heaps of plastics in their throats and stomachs are on the increase.
A staggering 350 million metric tons of plastics are produced in the world on an annual basis, yet 91% of plastics are never recycled. They are dumped in landfills, shipped overseas, or, worse, wind up in our oceans – approximately 15 million metric tons of plastics enter the ocean each year.
Plastic, unlike other materials, does not recycle itself in the environment. Instead, plastic breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces, which can still cause damage. For example, many plastics are manufactured with toxic chemicals that leach out and the plastic particles can also attract toxins in seawater, posing serious poisoning problems for marine life. Plastic bits have punctured the stomach linings of sea lions, killing them. Plastic has even entered the human food chain, where people eat the equivalent of a credit card (5 g) of plastic every week.
Earth Island Institute's Legal Counsel Sumona Majumdar speaks to reporters, announcing Earth Island's lawsuit against ten major plastic manufacturers, asking the court to require these companies to clean up their plastic pollution. The International Marine Mammal Project is playing a major role in the case. The lawsuit is pending in California state court. Photo by Mark J. Palmer/Earth Island.
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act would address the crisis in many important ways:
- Shifts the burden of the cost of disposal or recycling of plastic products to manufacturers and sellers of the plastic, rather than government agencies and individuals. The companies would pay fees to help clean up, reduce and recycle plastics.
- Improves public access to recycling drop-off points, curbside recycling, and other means to ensure easy collection of plastic products to recycle.
- Establishes a national program of deposits on recyclable beverage containers that will be used to help clean up, recycle or properly dispose of plastic containers.
- Sets strong and specific percentage goals for recycling of a variety of plastic materials.
- Prohibits many single-use plastic products, such as plastic carryout bags, single-use plastic straws, plastic eating utensils, and other products deemed “single-use plastic”.
- Identifies plastic tobacco filters and electronic cigarette components for study of the environmental effects of such waste. The most prevalent item found in beach cleanups are plastic cigarette filters.
- In manufacturing plastics, seeks to include goals for the future recycling or re-use of the product as well as assessment of potential environmental harm.
- Clarifies the use of the labels “recyclable” and “compostable” on plastic products.
- Severely restricts export of plastic waste to other countries.
- Addresses lost fishing gear (“ghost gear”) through a Department of Commerce study of the extent of fishing gear losses and identification of quantity and fishing-type involved in such losses. Also requires reporting on efforts to cleanup lost fishing gear.
- For clothes washers, establishes requirements for filtration systems to avoid plastic particles entering waste water systems.
- Establishes a Reduction, Recycling, and Litter Cleanup Trust Fund to address litter cleanup, alternatives to plastic materials, and other steps to reduce plastic pollution.
- Pauses approval of new plastic manufacturing facilities, as standards are developed for zero air emissions of toxic chemicals from such facilities, to protect surrounding communities, often populated by the poor and people of color.
This comprehensive legislation addresses many important aspects of the plastic pollution crisis facing us and offers viable solutions.
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act has been endorsed by a number of environmental organizations, including the International Marine Mammal Project and Plastic Pollution Coalition of Earth Island Institute.
A Northern fur seal entangled in plastic fish netting. More and more marine mammals are harmed from plastic pollution, including plastic fishing gear.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Contact your House Representative and two Senators. Urge them to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act. Urge members of Congress to pass this important legislation as soon as possible. Tell them of your own experiences of finding plastic on beaches and in the ocean.
For information on contacting your two Senators in Washington DC, go here.
For information on contacting your member of the House of Representatives, go here.
For information on Earth Island's landmark lawsuit against plastic polluters, go here.
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The International Marine Mammal Project supported the California ban on inshore gillnets, and we worked internationally to ban high seas drift gillnets. Help us continue critical efforts to ban plastic nets that entangle and drown whales, dolphins and other marine life. We have joined the Earth Island lawsuit against ten major plastic manufacturers in California, such as Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola, Unilever, and Nestle, to end their polluting of the oceans with plastic containers that do not break down in the environment. Please help IMMP continue to meet the challenges of protecting whales and dolphins and their ocean habitat. Thank you for donating.
