There is a new online petition floating around that asks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to do a better job of curbing plastic pollution. With an estimated 8 million tons added every year, there is no time to wait. Per usual, it’s not going to start with a bottom up approach, which means that the problem must be tackled at its source. In this case, the source is the plastic manufacturers who are planning on increasing the production of plastic goods in years to come. Their way of thinking is “if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.” Well, it is broke, and something needs to be done to address the ecological disaster that has the planet in a stranglehold.
The plastic industry plans to increase North American plastic production by at least 35 percent by 2025.
The petition also addresses the poisoning of host communities, where the plastic producing facilities are located, such as African American neighborhoods in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ – with deadly carcinogens including dioxin, phthalates and benzene.
The petition, started by the Center of Biological Diversity, is asking the EPA to update outdated rules and regulations that would:
1) Prohibit the discharge of plastic pellets and all other plastic materials in stormwater and wastewater;
2) Update effluent limitation guidelines for new facilities to eliminate the discharge of all toxic pollutants;
3) Revise the list of chemicals considered as pollutants to reflect current science; and
4) Update the pollution-control requirements for all petrochemical facilities to reflect advances in monitoring and treatment technologies since the last revisions decades ago.
The time is now, to step up and sign this petition. By doing so, you will do your part in helping to protect the planet from plastic manufacturing companies that only have one concern – their bottom line.