Chris J Ratcliffe / Getty Images
By Julie Wilson
It's great when consumers take responsibility for using less plastic, and for cleaning up plastic waste in their communities.
<p>But wouldn't it be better if the corporations that put all that plastic into the marketplace and environment had to take responsibility for cleaning it up?</p>
<p>Plastic waste — most of it from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/13/waste-plastic-food-packaging-recycling-throwaway-culture-dave-hall" target="_blank">single-use</a> processed food and drink packaging — contaminates our <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a>, soil, air and waterways, including the deepest parts of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/oceans/" rel="noopener noreferrer">ocean</a>.</p><p>The Break Free From Plastic Act of 2020 aims to curb plastics pollution by shifting the responsibility from consumers to the companies that produce plastic. </p><p>The bill, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/business/recycling-law.html" target="_blank">introduced</a> by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), would hold <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90425011/coca-cola-nestle-and-pepsico-are-the-worlds-biggest-plastic-polluters-again" target="_blank">major plastic polluters</a>, such as Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, accountable for their pollution by requiring them to finance waste and recycling programs.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/federal-break-free-from-plastic-pollution-act-introduced" target="_blank">Break Free From Plastic Act</a> would also place an all-out ban on certain single-use plastics that are non-recyclable, and prohibit plastic waste from being shipped overseas to developing countries.</p>
<p>Plastic pollution is so <a href="https://www.weforum.org/press/2016/01/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-ocean-by-2050-report-offers-blueprint-for-change/" target="_blank">rampant</a> in our oceans that scientists predict the sea will contain more plastic than fish by the year 2050. It also <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/plastic-planet-how-tiny-plastic-particles-are-polluting-our-soil" target="_blank">pollutes soil</a> and freshwater.</p><p>Tiny bits of plastic or <a href="http://ecowatch.com/tag/microplastics">microplastic</a> are contaminating humans, too. The average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastic each year — and we inhale a similar amount — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/05/people-eat-at-least-50000-plastic-particles-a-year-study-finds" target="_blank">studies</a> show.</p><p>Consumers should shop responsibly, sure. But it's time we held the biggest plastic polluters responsible for the damage they cause to the environment and human health.</p>
<p class=""><em>Find out more about the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act <a href="https://advocacy.organicconsumers.org/page/17377/action/1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Here</a>.</em></p><p><em>Julie Wilson is communications associate for the <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/" target="_blank">Organic Consumers Association</a> (OCA). To keep up with OCA news and alerts, <a href="https://advocacy.organicconsumers.org/page/5554/subscribe/1" target="_blank">sign up for their newsletter</a>.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from the <a href="https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/what-if-nestle-and-coke-had-clean-their-own-plastic-pollution" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Organic Consumers Association</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- The Story of Plastic: New Film Exposes the Source of Our Plastic ... ›
- Coke and Pepsi Are The World's Top Consumer Plastic Polluters ... ›
- Coca-Cola Says It Won't Break Free From Plastic Bottles - EcoWatch ›
- 10 Worst Plastic Polluting Companies Found by Global Cleanups ... ›
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Spiros Vathis / Flickr
A new study highlights how our laundry contributes to major oceanic pollution.
The Hudson River could be dumping about 300 million clothing fibers into the Atlantic Ocean per day, according to new research published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin.
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For the study, researchers collected 142 water samples throughout the length of the Hudson River and found about one microfiber per liter. That's a lot when you consider that this endless stream of human-made fibers ultimately ends up in our oceans.
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"The ocean is the endgame for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics">plastics</a>," marine biologist Abigail Barrows, a principal investigator with Adventure Scientists, told <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/new-york-river-dumps-millions-fabric-microfibers-ocean-daily/" target="_blank">PBS Newshour</a>.
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About half the samples <span></span>were plastic microfibers and the other half were non-plastic microfibers such as cotton or wool.
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Microfibers get flushed into our waterways when we wash our clothing or other textiles. Notably, the researchers did not find more fibers near wastewater treatment plants or high-population areas, suggesting that microfiber pollution is pervasive throughout the river.
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<span></span>"There was no pattern across the whole Hudson River—from Lake Tear of the Clouds, an alpine remote beauty, down to the heaving, thriving Manhattan," Rachael Miller, a co-author on the study, told PBS. "It was a real surprise."
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<span></span>You might not be able to see microfibers with the naked eye but the material is pervasive in our environment and can make its way up the food chain, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/story-of-stuff-microfibers-2294645216.html">according</a> to <a href="http://storyofstuff.org/" target="_blank">The Story of Stuff</a>:
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"Microfibers are tiny <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastic-pollution" target="_blank">plastic</a> threads shed from synthetic fabrics like polyester, rayon and nylon. These fabrics currently <a href="http://brenmicroplastics.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/7/0/51702815/bren-patagonia_final_report.pdf" target="_blank">make up 60 percent of all clothing</a> worldwide and their use as the dominant textile materials [is] <a href="http://www.textileworld.com/textile-world/fiber-world/2015/02/man-made-fibers-continue-to-grow/" target="_blank">dramatically on the rise</a>. When washed, plastic microfibers break off and a single jacket can produce <a href="http://brenmicroplastics.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/7/0/51702815/bren-patagonia_final_report.pdf" target="_blank">up to 250,000 fibers</a> in washing machine effluent. Less than 1 mm in size, they ultimately make their way through wastewater plants and into marine environments where they have been found to enter the food chain. Microfibers make up 85 percent of human made debris on shorelines around the world <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201811s" target="_blank">according to a 2011 study</a>."
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Barrows told PBS she wears wool or other natural materials to reduce her plastic footprint, but even natural materials can be harmful to the environment.
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"Toxins and dyes are added into that thread. The science is still out. We don't know how natural fibers are interacting with humans or animals," she said.
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