Oceana Urges Decisive Action on Plastic Pollution

In the United States, 35.4 million tons of plastic was produced in 2017 alone. Only a small portion of that plastic is recycled into new materials—the rest ends up in landfills, waterways, and the environment. Organizations and governments across the globe are trying to curb this serious threat to human and environmental health. EESI sat down with Christy Leavitt, the plastics campaign director at Oceana, to discuss the breadth of the plastic pollution crisis as well as the steps that need to be taken to address this issue.

Q: How does the United States currently handle its plastic waste?

Leavitt: The U.S. — along with other wealthy, developed nations — has long shipped massive amounts of its plastic waste to developing countries because it was cheaper to send trash abroad than to deal with it at home. Many of these countries have less robust waste-management structures than our own, which means much of the plastic waste Americans thought was being recycled was ending up in landfills or marine environments on the other side of the globe.

When China stopped accepting the world’s waste via its National Sword policy in January 2018, the U.S. suddenly found itself responsible for handling its own massive amount of plastic waste — after spending decades increasing its production and use of plastic because it didn’t have to worry about managing the end result. We’re seeing cities and communities across the country curtail their recycling programs as they struggle to find new markets — which means much of the plastic waste is now just being incinerated or landfilled. The fallout from China’s policy is further evidence that recycling cannot keep up with industry’s skyrocketing rates of plastic production. It’s time we turned to real solutions: policies that greatly reduce the amount of unnecessary single-use plastic produced, in addition to refillable and reusable systems that move us away from the throwaway culture entirely.

Q: What infrastructure should be built or upgraded to set the United States up for success in terms of plastic waste management and reduction?

Leavitt: The best way to curb plastic pollution and its effects on our oceans is for companies to produce significantly less plastic. We cannot recycle our way out of the plastic pollution crisis. Only 9 percent of the plastic waste ever generated has been recycled, and yet plastics producers have continued to point to recycling as the panacea while planning to quadruple their production of plastic between 2014 and 2050.

Recycling is like trying to mop water from an overflowing bathtub while the faucet is still running. We need to turn off the faucet and reduce the production of single-use plastic.

Industry has created a throwaway culture in which our daily routines involve disposable items designed for one use. We need to pivot to a zero-waste economy via refillable and reusable systems, and companies will have to innovate in order to make this convenient and realistic for consumers. Some companies are already leading the way in these efforts, but we need the global corporations responsible for the majority of coastal plastic pollution to get on board. (See our Corporate Solutions fact sheet for some examples of companies leading the way.)

Q: What policies are currently in place that are really helpful for reducing packaging and other plastic waste?

L: Policies that focus on source reduction—stopping plastic pollution at the source and reducing the amount of plastic that is produced—are essential in effectively tackling the plastics crisis. In the U.S., states and municipalities have taken the lead in the past few years with bans on single-use plastic items—like plastic bags, plastic straws and polystyrene food and drink containers—which has set the stage for federal policy. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, introduced earlier this year by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), offers the comprehensive federal action the U.S. has been lacking, curbing plastic production and holding producers responsible for the waste they create. (See our press release on the introduction of this bill here.)

Q: What is one of the biggest setbacks the United States faces in reducing plastics?

L: One of the biggest setbacks the U.S. has faced in reducing plastics is the plastics industry’s long and successful history of convincing consumers that this is their problem to fix. When the world started realizing the environmental consequences of single-use plastic products, industry pointed to consumers to solve it. Plastics producers have been putting the burden of fixing the plastics crisis on consumers ever since the problem was realized, and they’re still doing it. But the truth of the matter is that waste-management solutions like recycling will never be able to keep up with ever-growing plastic production rates. Companies need to get on board in fighting plastic pollution by dramatically reducing plastic production before it’s too late—and comprehensive government policies regulating single-use plastics are critical in ensuring that happens.

Q: In your opinion, how can we guide consumer behavior to be more conscious of their waste? What can people do today to help reduce plastic?

L: There’s already a widespread, and growing, awareness among consumers of plastic’s effects on our environment and how consumption of single-use plastic contributes to that—the problem is that consumers don’t have enough plastic-free choices to avoid it. We need companies to reduce the amount of plastic they’re pumping into the market and provide consumers with plastic-free choices. Consumers can help by demanding that of companies and advocating for policies that hold companies accountable for their plastic waste, in addition to avoiding single-use plastic whenever possible.

Q: How does plastic pollution impact human and environmental health?

L: Plastic pollution is everywhere at this point. It’s been found washing up on the world’s most remote coastlines, melting out of Arctic sea ice and sitting at the deepest point of the ocean floor.^{[1], [2], [3]} Tens of thousands of individual marine organisms have been observed suffering from entanglement or ingestion of plastics—impacting everything from zooplankton and fish to sea turtles, marine mammals and seabirds.^[4] An estimated 700 marine species, including many endangered species, are affected by it.^[5]

On top of its effects on marine life, plastic contributes to climate change, one of the biggest threats to our planet, throughout its entire life cycle, and this climate impact will only grow as plastic production continues to skyrocket.^[6]

Plastic has not only infiltrated our oceans but also our soil, food, drinking water, air and bodies^[7]—how this is affecting human health is a topic of extensive research. ^[8]

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

 

Interview by: Sydney O’Shaughnessy