Team 6: Stop Plastics & Waste

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse & Repurpose!

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“In reality, “advanced recycling” is just another harmful industry-driven false fix that delays and distracts from real solutions—most notably among them, turning off the plastic tap.”

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“In fact, based on our analysis of eight “chemical recycling” plants in the United States, we found that (1) most “chemical recycling” facilities in the United States are not recycling any plastic, (2) “chemical recycling” facilities generate hazardous air pollutants and large quantities of hazardous waste, and (3) “chemical recycling” facilities tend to be located in communities that are disproportionately low income, people of color, or both.”

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“…pyrolysis is anything but sustainable, describing it as energy-intensive manufacturing with a large carbon footprint that incinerates much of the plastic waste and mostly just makes new fossil fuels.”

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“These technologies require large amounts of energy and emit significant pollutants and greenhouse gases…”

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“They have found that the infiltration of microplastics was as widespread in the body as it is in the environment, leading to behavioral changes, especially in older test subjects.”

“They found that microplastic exposure induces both behavioral changes and alterations in immune markers in liver and brain tissues.”

“The detection of microplastics in tissues such as the heart and lungs, however, suggests that the microplastics are going beyond the digestive system and likely undergoing systemic circulation. The brain blood barrier is supposed to be very difficult to permeate. It is a protective mechanism against viruses and bacteria, yet these particles were able to get in there. It was actually deep in the brain tissue.”

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“Microplastic pollution has been detected in human blood for the first time, with scientists finding the tiny particles in almost 80% of the people tested.”

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“…it is essential to redefine plastics as complex chemical mixtures and to integrate chemical issues across the life cycle…”

“Out of more than 10,000 known plastics chemicals, at least 2400 are classified as toxic, such as many phthalates and brominated flame retardants”

Global Plastic Laws | Global Plastic Laws

Database includes 9 topics covering the full life cycle of plastics along with key issue areas.

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“Plastics are made of chemicals and many of the 13,000 chemicals known to be used in plastics are hazardous and have been proven to negatively impact human health and the environment.”

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A study found infants using plastic bottles may be exposed to up to 1.5 million microplastic particles every day

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“The deliberate dispersion of microplastics in the environment through the application of plastic-coated fertilizers and pesticides is one of the most direct and preventable sources of growing microplastic pollution in agricultural soils.

The use of plastic-coated synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is rising, with producers marketing their “controlled-release” function as a key to sustainable, climate-friendly agriculture.

Encapsulating agrochemicals in plastic and spreading them across soils and crops only compounds the significant health and environmental risks posed by agrochemicals and may exacerbate their harmful impacts.”

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“…the agricultural sector is one of the most significant users of intentionally added microplastics.”

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“Individually, each stage of the plastic life cycle poses significant risks to human health. Together, the life cycle impacts of plastic paint an unequivocally toxic picture: plastic threatens human health on a global scale.”

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“Made from a combination of chemicals and fossil fuels, plastic produces greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its life cycle. To provide context, if plastic were a country, it would be the world’s fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter,”

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“The American Chemistry Council projects the chemical industry will spend $164 billion on 264 new plastics facilities or expansion projects by 2023.”

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“If trends in oil consumption and plastic production continue as expected, “the consumption of oil by the entire plastics sector will account for 20% of the total consumption by 2050.”

Click here for more information about how chemical “recycling” is NOT a solution

Click here for Questions and Answers on Chemical “Recycling

Watch out for the plastics and chemical industry trying to change state and federal regulations to greenwash chemical “recycling”. Click here for information.

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Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) or Styrofoam, is a petroleum-based non-biodegradable foam, which the EPA and International Agency for Research on Cancer consider styrene a “possible human carcinogen” and “that such materials can have serious impacts upon human health, wildlife, and aquatic environment, and the economy.”

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Childhood…phthalate exposure was associated with 20% higher rate of childhood cancer overall, with a nearly three-fold higher rate of osteosarcoma diagnosis, a bone cancer, and a two-fold higher rate of lymphoma diagnosis, cancer of the blood.”

Dr. Sarah-Jeanne Royer, CleanEarth4Kids.org consultant, discovered plastic releases methane

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Click for Surfrider's: Rise Above Plastics (RAP) Program

Only 9% of plastic is actually recycled. Click Here.

The technology to recycle Styrofoam does not exist and it requires more than a million years to decompose.

In 2019, the production and burning of plastic added more than 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere - equal to 189 five-hundred-megawatt coal power plants. Click Here.

Plastics have become a main revenue source for the fossil fuel and chemical industries.

We must stop using fossil fuels.

Let’s find ways to live without plastic and Styrofoam

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Zero Waste

What is Zero Waste?

Send nothing to a landfill, incinerator or the ocean.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost.

The average American sends 4.4 pounds of trash to the landfill every DAY.

That’s 1,606 pounds every year for every american.

Sustainable Fashion: From the Red Carpet to Our Wardrobes

Fashion industry accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions and almost 20% of waste water. Also uses more energy than the aviation and shipping industries combined!

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Sample Plastic Legislation

City of Carlsbad, CA

City of Encinitas, CA

City of Oceanside, CA

City of solana beach, ca

City of Vista, CA

Resources

Leave No trace

Less Plastic

Plastic Free Schools

Skip The Stuff

Students Take on Plastic (S.T.O.P.) - How To Implement a "S.T.O.P." Event in your School or Community

Articles

Aldi tells suppliers product packaging must be 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025

Canada to ban single-use plastics as early as 2021

Cigarette filters are the No.1 plastic pollutant ... and don't prevent cancer

EU Votes to Completely Ban Single-Use Plastics

Greenhouse Gasses from Plastic Pollution

How Styrofoam is Bad for the Environment

Humans have made 8.3bn tons of plastic since 1950

Humans Eat Over 40 Pounds of Plastic In A Lifetime

India takes a bold step for the planet by banning single-use plastics

Malibu Bans Plastic Straws and Utensils

Meet the ocean cleanup company that's removed 4.7 million pounds of trash

Microplastics are raining down from the sky

Microplastics detected in North American mountain snows

Mouse study finds BPA exposure has transgenerational effects on gene linked to autism

Oil companies double down on plastics as public outcry grows

Plastic Has A Big Carbon Footprint — But That Isn't The Whole Story

Plastic In Bottled Water

Plastic & Health: Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet

Plastic & Microplastics are Constantly Exposing Us to Dangerous Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals

plastic pellets are the biggest pollution disaster you’ve never heard of

Plastic's Toxic Additives

Scientists Accidentally Create Mutant Enzyme that Eats Plastic Bottles

Scientists discovered a mushroom that eats plastic, and believe it could clean our landfills

Scientists have made a next-generation plastic that can be recycled again and again into new materials of any color, shape, or form

Students Engineer Bacteria That Can Transform Plastic Into CO2 And Water

Supermarkets in Asia are Now Using Banana Leaves Instead of Plastic Packaging

San Francisco Bay Microplastics Project

Truth About Bioplastics

floating device created to clean up plastic from the ocean is finally doing its job

* Click on Links Below:
* Zero Waste
* Plastic Pollution Sample Legislation & Resources
* Stop Synthetic Turf