Friend,
The logic is simple: If you make a mess, you should be responsible for cleaning it up, right?
Well, in the world of plastic production, that's not the case. Plastic producers create millions of pounds of plastic waste that our system isn't set up to manage.
If we continue down this path, we will leave future generations a monstrous plastic waste problem. Here's a better idea: Make plastics producers financially responsible for the plastic and other forms of waste their products generate.
We're kicking off our 2022 End of Fiscal Year Drive to build support for commonsense solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing our society in the year ahead. Will you support our work to move our country beyond plastic? When you donate before midnight on June 30, generous donors will match your gift dollar for dollar, up to $10,000 nationwide.
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From the time you wake up in the morning until the time you go to bed, America will have produced enough plastic waste to fill a professional football stadium to the brim.[1] To make matters worse, the companies that produce all of the plastic evade the costs of cleaning up the mess.[2]
Friend, as taxpayers and as inhabitants of Planet Earth, you and I are the ones who shoulder the burden of disposing of plastic waste.[3]
As taxpayers, we're funding the services that physically pick up and dispose of (or recycle) our trash.[4]
As human beings living on the same planet, we are paying the price of plastic production when we eat (that's right, eat) a credit card's worth of plastic each week.[5] And the next generation will suffer an even greater cost if we cannot develop a more sustainable way to produce and consume our stuff.
As part of our 2022 End of Fiscal Year Drive, we're working to build support to move our country beyond plastic. Will you contribute today?
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If producers were made responsible for financially dealing with their own waste, they would make their products more sustainable and environmentally-friendly to improve their bottom-line.[6]
Under producer responsibility programs, manufacturers -- not individuals or taxpayers -- are responsible for the waste their products create, and bear responsibility for the collection and proper recycling of those products at the end of their useful lives.[7]
These programs are popular in several countries and are gaining popularity across America as well -- Colorado, Maine and Oregon have all successfully passed producer responsibility legislation, and at PIRG, we're working to get more states to follow suit.[8]
Donate to our 2022 End of Fiscal Year Drive before June 30 and generous donors will double your impact, matching your gift dollar for dollar, up to $10,000 nationwide.
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Thank you,
Faye Park
President
1. Adrian Pforzheimer and Alex Truelove, "Break the waste cycle," U.S. PIRG Education Fund, October 2020.
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2. Alex Truelove, "Why plastic pollution is a producer responsibility," The Revelator, January 8, 2021.
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3. Alex Truelove, "Why plastic pollution is a producer responsibility," The Revelator, January 8, 2021.
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4. Alex Truelove, "Why plastic pollution is a producer responsibility," The Revelator, January 8, 2021.
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5. Brooke Kato, "You're eating a credit card's worth of plastic a week -- and it's killing your gut," NY Post, March 30, 2022.
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6. Adrian Pforzheimer and Alex Truelove, "Break the waste cycle," U.S. PIRG Education Fund, October 2020.
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7. Adrian Pforzheimer and Alex Truelove, "Break the waste cycle," U.S. PIRG Education Fund, October 2020.
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8. Megan Quinn, "Maine governor signs nation's first EPR law for consumer packaging," WasteDive, July 13, 2021.
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U.S. PIRG
Main Office: 1543 Wazee St., Suite 460, Denver, CO 80202, (303) 801-0582
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