Nothing we use for a few minutes should threaten our health and pollute our future for hundreds of years.
Every day, people throw away tons of plastic “stuff”—cups, plates, bags, containers, forks, knives, spoons and more. All of this waste not only clogs our landfills, trashes our parks, and litters our streets, but it also washes into our rivers and oceans, where it can harm wildlife.
Recycling certainly can help mitigate the problem. But unfortunately, of the millions of tons of plastic we produce every year, most is currently not recyclable, and we produce vastly more waste than our recycling infrastructure can handle. As a society, we need to stop creating enormous quantities of unnecessary waste in the first place, rather than focus only on recycling and re-using waste after the fact.
The good news is that we have lots of alternatives to single-use plastic items would prevent needless harm to the environment.
It’s Time To Stop Trashing Our Future
We’re calling for campus, city, and statewide bans on single use plastic products, including straws and take-out foam cups and containers.
Recent Victory and Next Steps:
Here is Washington, several cities including Seattle have already taken action against single-use plastic like bags and straws. Now, we’re fighting to pass Producer Responsibility legislation. We need to create a system that stops plastic pollution at the source, and this bill would do just that. By incentivizing reusable packaging and requiring corporations to actually recycle the plastic they create, we can hold plastic producers responsible, and improve the health of everyone in Washington. We’re show our elected officials that this is a problem young people are taking seriously.
Join the Movement
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