Enough is enough: We need to put a stop to the billions of tons of plastic waste that threaten our health and environment. Donate to our September Drive before midnight tonight and your gift will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $10,000 nationwide. |
Friend,
Imagine a towering heap of plastic trash as heavy as the Empire State Building. Can you picture 35,000 of them? That plastic city would represent how much plastic has ended up in landfills or our environment since 1950: over 6 billion tons of it.1
How on Earth did we get here? Waste has become a way of life, with corporations profiting off of the pollution of our communities.
Friend, you and I both know there's a better way.
U.S. PIRG is working to win policies that will hold waste producers responsible for cleaning up their messes, and help us use less plastic to begin with -- but we can't do it without you.
A whopping 91% of plastic is never recycled.2 To make matters worse, plastic degrades during the recycling process -- so material that is recycled once is never recycled again.3 It all ends up as trash in the end.
The plastic manufacturing industry has known for decades that only a paltry fraction of their product ever ends up getting recycled. But the industry spent millions of dollars to convince us that recycling is enough to address our waste crisis -- so it could turn around and make billions selling new plastic.4
The companies responsible for selling us plastic should be responsible for cleaning up their mess -- and we should use much less single-use plastic in the first place.
Help us meet our goal before the midnight deadline by making your matched gift today.
If you give right now, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $10,000 nationwide -- and we'll put every dollar right to work combatting the pollution crisis that threatens our health and communities.
How do we know we can make a difference? We've won before, and our dedicated staff of experts and activists knows how to keep the momentum going.
PIRG and our supporters have played a vital part in winning bans on the worst single-use plastics. Together, we've already led the charge to move beyond plastic: 33% of Americans now live in a state with a robust ban on one or more types of single-use plastic.
Thank you,
Faye Park
President
1. Laura Parker, "A Whopping 91 Percent of Plastic Isn't Recycled," National Geographic, July 5, 2019.
2. Laura Parker, "A Whopping 91 Percent of Plastic Isn't Recycled," National Geographic, July 5, 2019.
3. Alex Truelove, "U.S. PIRG Education Fund urges the public to hold Coca-Cola accountable for its pledge to reduce plastic use," U.S. PIRG, February 9, 2021.
4. Laura Sullivan, "How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled," NPR, September 11, 2020.
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 Roundup 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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U.S. PIRG, Main Office: 1543 Wazee St., Suite 460, Denver, CO 80202, (303) 801-0582
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