Plastic pollution is an environmental crisis due to its impact on
greenhouse gas emissions, impact on human and wildlife health,
and inequitable impacts on communities of color and low income
communities.
Plastics generate greenhouse gases at every phase of their life
cycle from fossil fuel extraction to refining and manufacturing
to usage and to waste management. In 2019, a conservative
estimate approximated that plastic production and incineration
emitted 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the
equivalent to 189 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants operating
at full capacity.
Plastics have infiltrated our air, water and land, killing and
injuring wildlife and harming human health. Only 9% of plastic
ever gets recycled, leaving the other 91% to enter our
ecosystems. Microplastics have been found from the Mariana Trench
to the human placenta. The chemicals within plastics can cause
cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders, and neurological
impairments in development.
Petrochemical facilities that turn fracked gas into plastic and
incinerators that burn plastic are often located in communities
of color and low-income communities that bear the brunt of their
dangerous pollution, resulting in the plastic pollution crisis
also becoming an environmental justice crisis.
Still, the U.S. continues unabated plastic products and exports
225 shipping containers of plastic waste per day to countries
with limited or nonexistent waste management systems.
The Break
Free From Plastic Pollution Act represents a vital
opportunity for Congress to take real action and address the
plastic pollution crisis. The act offers a comprehensive set of
regulations and guidelines, reducing the production and use of
single-use plastics, preventing pollution from plastic products
from entering into food chains and waterways, and protecting
frontline and fenceline communities.
Visit the BFFP
Website
View the full bill
here.
Read about the negative impacts of plastic
pollution:
