John,
Picture America's largest football stadium: Home to the Dallas Cowboys, AT&T stadium is 3 million square feet and seats 80,000 people.1
Now imagine that same stadium, filled to the brim with trash. That's how much plastic we throw away -- in just 16 hours.2
PIRG is working to fix that -- and we need your help.
We have a track record of winning real results. That's why generous donors are matching donations dollar for dollar, up to $50,000 nationwide, until midnight tonight.
Double your impact by making your year-end gift now.
Nothing we use for just a few minutes should be allowed to pollute our communities and threaten our health for hundreds of years.
But plastic takes centuries and centuries to break down. That piece of produce that your grocery store inexplicably wrapped in plastic? It'll probably still be out there hundreds of years from now.
The plastic industry has gone to great lengths to tell us that isn't a problem, but here's what they aren't telling you: Less than 10% of plastic is ever recycled. Most of what you see labeled as "widely recyclable" ends up in a landfill or incinerator. And so-called "chemical recycling" is a disaster for our health and for the environment.3,4
The simplest solution to the plastic waste crisis is to make less plastic in the first place.
So how do we turn the tide on the plastic waste problem?
- Start by phasing out the worst single-use plastics. More than a third of Americans live in a state with restrictions on at least one kind of plastic.5
- Retailers can be part of the solution by using less plastic, especially in their packaging. We've already helped convince Amazon to start reducing plastic, and in just the last couple of weeks, more than 10,000 PIRG supporters have called on Trader Joe's to reduce their plastic footprint.6
- We're campaigning to pass the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act, which would prohibit the dumping of plastic pellets, or nurdles, into our nation's waterways. PIRG has rallied tens of thousands of people to contact their representatives in Congress and urge them to pass this bill.
PIRG is a citizen-funded, grassroots nonprofit. We don't take a penny from corporations. As we plan for the challenges of the year ahead, we're facing tough choices about how we can have the biggest impact for the public interest.
Be a champion for the public interest: Make your year-end gift now and double your impact.
Thank you for supporting our work,
Faye Park
President
1. "AT&T Stadium," Walter P. Moore, last accessed December 18, 2024.
2. "Beyond Plastic," PIRG, last accessed December 18, 2024, 2024.
3. Lisa Song, "When Is 'Recyclable' Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means." ProPublica, August 15, 2024.
4. Dharna Noor, "'They lied': plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals," The Guardian, February 15, 2024.
5. "Reducing plastic waste in the states," PIRG, last accessed December 18, 2024.
6. "Amazon announces 'largest reduction in plastic packaging' in North America," PIRG, June 20, 2024.
Your donation will power our dedicated staff of organizers, policy experts and attorneys who drive all of our campaigns in the public interest, from banning toxic pesticides and moving us beyond plastic, to saving our antibiotics and being your consumer watchdog, to protecting our environment and our democracy. None of our work would be possible without the support of people just like you.
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