Plastic is everywhere – even in the places you’d least expect, like chewing gum, tea bags, wet wipes, receipts, and microwaveable popcorn bags. Yet, manufacturers continue to make more and more plastic each year – even though how plastic is made fuels a toxic cycle of production, consumption, and disposal.
Big Beverage companies drive the global plastic pollution crisis, thanks to the single-use bottles in which they sell their beverages. They also do everything they can to maintain the status quo by sabotaging efforts to reform our recycling systems. That’s why we’re exposing Big Beverage’s playbook – because we can no longer afford to let them avoid responsibility while we drown in plastic pollution.
During my recent stint on parental leave, I tried to disconnect from my Zero Waste work. But I quickly realized that there’s no off-switch for corporate greenwashing. So, I’d like to set the record straight. What does circular economy really mean? And why will single-use plastics and waste-burning technologies never have a place in it? Here are the answers.
Today’s throw-away culture exists because plastic producers and manufacturers choose to make single-use products and packaging that cannot be recycled. But we can change that by passing legislation that will hold producers accountable for the waste they create.
Experts are refuting the plastic industry’s claims that reusable bags carry and transmit COVID-19. One public health expert, Dr. Ben Locwin, spoke with CLF about why reusables do not increase the risk of infection, and how washing your reusables with soap or detergent reduces any theoretical risk of transmission.
A proposed medical waste facility in West Warwick would collect and burn waste from healthcare facilities across New England. But we have a responsibility to protect the health and safety of our communities and environment. Now is not the time for Rhode Island to become the region’s dumping ground for toxic medical waste.
“Fossil fuel companies have created the plastic crisis at our expense,” said Brad Campbell, President of Conservation Law Foundation. “Beyond littering our streets and waters, plastic production harms human health, destroys our climate and hobbles the budgets of cities and towns. This groundbreaking federal legislation will hold these large corporations accountable in cleaning up the damage they’ve done.”
