Above: Carmen Morales-Board (pictured on the left), a dedicated Volunteer Leader on the Plastics Action Team, collects petition signatures in California supporting the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act. Right, top: Volunteer Leader Kathy Cook was instrumental in winning a plastic bag ban for businesses in West Vincent Township in Eastern Pennsylvania. She's pictured here giving a presentation about the harms of plastics to Township supervisors. That day, they voted unanimously for the ban. Right, bottom: Kathy Cook and West Vincent Township Board Chair Dana Alan discuss the plastic bag ban.
get into the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe, ultimately harming humans and ecosystems worldwide. Much of the danger comes from toxic additives, including PFAS forever chem- icals and carcinogens like benzene. In addition, plastic worsens the climate crisis. It’s energy-inten- sive to produce, and almost all plastic is made from fossil fuels. New research suggests that the plastic industry produces four times the emissions of the airline industry. Don’t let those chasing arrows fool you Amazon emblazons its mailers with the “chasing arrows” symbol and a link to recycling information. Since most
curbside recycling programs don’t take film plastics used in packaging, you’re directed to a drop-off program. However, drop-off programs have failed to work — only a tiny fraction of Amazon’s plastic packaging makes it to a recycling sorting facility. In the U.S., only 5% of plastic gets recycled, even though most people dutifully fill their recycle bins. Plastic is much more likely to end up in an incinerator, landfill, or be shipped abroad forcing other countries to deal with the mess. That’s because plastic recycling isn’t profitable. Corporations know this. Plastic is cheap, and if they can convince us that they can use it without harming the planet
Not-So-Fun Fact A study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society estimates that the effects of just a few plastic additives cost us $249 billion in healthcare in one year.
— well, that’s perfect for their bottom line. Ending our plastic pollution crisis is possible Plastic is cheap because corporations can offload its environmental and health costs
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FOOD & WATER WATCH / ACTION — LIVABLE FUTURE NOW | 2
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