Plastic pollution is pervasive. You can find it in marine debris washing up on ocean beaches, litter clogging streams and lakes, industrial chemicals polluting our communities, and in tiny microplastic particles which have been found from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.
Here’s where we need your help: There is sweeping legislation currently before the U.S. Congress that will help tackle this crisis. Sign our petition today to show support for the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act!
The United States is the second-largest driver of total plastic waste generated annually, only slightly lagging behind China. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we produced almost 36 million tons of plastic waste in 2018, more than 90% of which was landfilled or burned, and not recycled. Globally, more than 29 million metric tons of plastic enter the environment every year and that plastic breaks down into microscopic particles that harm fish and wildlife and seep into nearly everything we touch, drink, eat. It's in Arctic snow, mountain soils, and can be blown across the world.
The impact is enormous. From our drinking water to our table salt, we consume microplastics through our food, water, and even the air we breathe. Studies reveal that levels of microplastics we ingest daily can cause cell damage, including cell death and allergic reactions.
Plastic production also fuels the climate crisis, as 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels. And manufacturing plastic from fossil fuels causes toxic pollution, which most often occurs in low-income communities and communities of color, disproportionately harming Black and brown people who are more likely to live near the petrochemical facilities that produce plastic.
We have an opportunity, right now, to address these and other key parts of the plastic pollution crisis with the most comprehensive proposed legislation yet. The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act would:
Shift responsibility for waste management and recycling to manufacturers and producers,
Set up a national beverage container refund program,
Establish minimum recycled content standards,
Phase-out certain single-use plastic products for which we don’t have alternatives,
Prohibit plastic waste from being exported to developing countries, and
Place a moratorium on new and expanding plastic facilities until EPA updates and creates vital environmental and health regulations on those facilities.
We can’t continue to increase plastic production while polluting our communities and treating our land, waterways, and oceans as dumping grounds for plastic waste.
