By Hildur Palsdottir
The environmental groups Beyond Plastics and the Last Beach Clean Up recently declared that plastic recycling rates are just 5-6% in the United States. Yet the per capita production of plastics has increased by 263% since 1980.
The petrochemical industry is committed to a frightening expansion of plastic production facilities to make up for their losses as we transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewables for our energy uses. Meanwhile, plastics may be even worse for us and the climate than the consequences of burning fossil fuels. Forever chemicals are now detected in our bloodstream, excrements and even in human placenta.
We used to ship plastic away and declare it recycled. Meanwhile, it was often dumped to litter the landscape of less developed countries, where poverty made this industrial greenwashing scheme possible. While China recently stopped accepting our plastics for recycling, new data warns that in addition to well-known dumping grounds in Southeast Asia, a large portion of our plastic waste stream is now diverted to Latin America.
Sadly, plastic waste exporting to Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras is on the rise, despite international treaties such as the Basel Convention attempting to regulate hazardous waste trafficking. The United States is one of few countries that haven’t ratified the Basel Convention, something worth asking your senator about.
While it’s increasingly more difficult to cover up illegal dumping and the recycling scam has been uncovered, the plastic industry is attempting to declare that the burning of plastics for energy is a solution to the waste and climate crisis.
Engineer Jan Dell of Last Beach Cleanup and former U.S. EPA Regional Director Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics, warn that waste-to-energy facilities contaminate both the atmosphere and waterways, threatening to irreversibly pollute the air and our drinking water, as well as the soil.
Despite public concerns about illegal dumping of untreated toxic ashes and a recent whistle-blower lawsuit, waste-to-energy plant Covanta Hempstead claims that burning of trash is the path forward to manage our trash and meet our energy needs. Meanwhile, hazardous waste is generated at this facility. And who’s paying the price?
New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance’s advocate Melissa Miles says: “Real solutions come from people who are most impacted,” warning that the industry doesn’t have the incentives to support real solutions. We should listen to the systematically excluded voices of low-income BIPOC communities who often live next to landfills and incinerators.
In North Bellport, neighbors of the 300-foot-tall Brookhaven Landfill – the highest point in the landscape of that bioregion – have had enough of “Ash for Trash.” Residents have organized as the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group (BLARG) and demand that it be closed.
The Brookhaven Landfill collects trash from millions of people and receives about 350,000 tons of ash from Covanta incinerator annually, but thanks to strong organizing efforts, this landfill is set to close in 2024. Meanwhile, “North Bellport has the lowest life expectancy on Long Island,” Monique Fitzgerald, spokeswoman for BLARG points out, illustrating the true cost for frontline communities. Fitzgerald exclaims: “The Long Island regional waste crisis isn’t looming. It is here.” Now my question is what are we going to do about it?
We must ban the production of non-essential, single-use plastics, and that is exactly what many countries are doing. China, India and the European Union are sincerely committed to reducing the use of single-use plastics, and Canada recently banned the use of certain single-use plastics. Some African countries, like Rwanda and Kenya, already committed a while back to strong regulation on plastics.
With true recycling, we reclaim waste. Paper, for instance, is very recyclable. The American Forest and Products Association reports paper recycling rates of 66% or three times more efficient now in comparison to paper recycling rates of 21.3% in 1980. Paper products are recyclable and biodegradable; metals can be recycled effectively, but plastic needs to be phased out or eliminated.
We must change our behaviors from single-use plastic “convenience” culture to a refill culture. We must insist on product repairability. We must commit to zero waste (refill) or less waste (true recyclability). Reimagine shopping by visiting ReTuna Återbruksgalleria, the world’s first climate smart recycling mall https://www.retuna.se/english/.
Be part of the solution and pledge to participate in Plastic Free July (https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/). Start breaking free from plastic where you are today—at home, at work, in your faith community, at sport events, and summer BBQs.
Don’t throw away our children’s future. Our collective future is refillable. For most of human history, we used to live without plastic, there’s no good reason why we can’t once again.
(You can read the report titled “The Real Truth about the U. S. Plastics Recycling Rate” at https://bit.ly/US-plastics-recycling-rate.)
