September 7, 2022
(press release)
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Source: US State of California OAKLAND –
“Without aggressive federal action, the global plastic pollution crisis is only going to get worse,” said Attorney General Bonta. “In California, we’ve launched a first-of-its-kind investigation into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries for their decades-long campaign of deception around the recyclability of plastic products. But we must also take action to reduce our consumption of these products. I urge the
The rapidly increasing production of single-use plastic products has long overwhelmed the world’s ability to manage them. Every year, tens of millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean. Plastic pollution is pervasive in California, polluting the state’s rivers, beaches, bays, and ocean waters and costing the state an estimated half a billion dollars each year in clean up and prevention. Plastic does not fully degrade, instead breaking down into smaller pieces called microplastics. Microplastics have been found in our drinking water, our food, and even the air we breathe. The global plastics pollution crisis has been driven by the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. In the 1950s, the world produced approximately 1.5 million tons of plastic annually. Today, that number has skyrocketed to more than 300 million tons with plans to continue to increase supply in the coming decades. In response, the plastics industry, comprised of major fossil fuel and petrochemical companies, began an aggressive – and deceptive – marketing and advertising campaign to convince the public that they could recycle their way out of the plastic waste problem. But the truth is the vast majority of plastic products, by design, cannot be recycled. Today, the rate of plastic recycling in the U.S. is just 6%. The remaining 94% is landfilled, incinerated, or otherwise released into the environment. The federal government is the largest consumer of goods and services in the world, and likely one of the largest, if not the largest, consumer of single-use plastics in
Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of the
A copy of the letter is available here.
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