Single-use plastic bag recycling seems like the right thing to do, but only a tiny portion of our plastic bags get recycled. Mostly, they end up being incinerated, or piled up in landfills, where they slowly break down into microplastics.
On December 2, 2020, a ship carrying plastic waste from abroad was being unloaded when 5,000 pounds were lost to Maine’s Penobscot Bay. The spill sparked outrage and left many people asking the same question: Why is the U.S., which generates the most plastic waste globally, importing even more plastic waste?
The plastic industry has been trying to take advantage of the pandemic to maximize profits. But fueling fear during a public health crisis is outrageous and must be called out. To truly protect public health and the environment long-term, we need full-scale reuse systems.
