America Recycles Day

Dear John,

Our current plastic recycling system is broken. Over 11 million metric tons of plastic enter the world's oceans every year. But, as consumers, we can't fix it alone—we need producers of packaging and products to be held responsible for the waste they create.

Today, on America Recycles Day, we are calling on elected leaders to implement Extended Producer Responsibility. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a program that makes producers of plastic and other materials financially responsible for collecting, sorting, recycling, and reusing the materials they create. And they're held to standards to ensure the items we recycle actually get recycled and made into new products.

You can help by writing to your elected officials encouraging them to support Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

We can make recycling work while incentivizing producers to do more with less. By implementing EPR, we can be one step closer to ensuring that plastic stays out of nature.

Jellyfish and plastic © naturepl.com / Alex Mustard / WWF