We've all seen the reports. Microplastics are everywhere now. They're in our water, our food - even in our brains and reproductive areas. And we know that plastic packaging is making this worse.
Every time our food or drinks come into contact with plastic, microscopic parts of it slough off into the products we consume. Even outside of food packaging, plastic breaks down but never biodegrades, leaving it to leach into our soil and waterways.
That's why it's important for a major, populated state like New York to fight plastic pollution by reducing plastic packaging!Lawmakers have proposed
a bill that would cut plastic packaging in the state by 30% over the next 12 years, in addition to improving recycling measures. It would also hold corporations responsible for the plastic packaging that they're polluting us all with, by levying fees on them.
Major fossil fuel and chemical corporations obviously
oppose this bill.
Plastic is made out of petrochemicals, so oil and gas and other dirty industries have a huge vested interest in keeping us all using as much new plastic as possible.
But it's important that we put pressure on New York state lawmakers to actually pass this bill! Not only would it fight the ever-growing amount of microplastic we're all ingesting, but it would also promote
air quality. Right now, transporting trash around the state has led to large increases in the amount of the pollutant PM2.5 in the air. Then, when
plastics are burnt at garbage incinerators, that intensifies the problem even more.
PM2.5 is considered one of the most dangerous pollutants of all. Research has connected its presence to the development of
cancer, childhood asthma, respiratory and heart diseases, and early deaths. Most of these negative trash impacts disproportionately affect communities of color.
All in all, the plastic crisis is causing deadly air pollution, creating a huge public health crisis.New York City, and as an extension New York state, have a huge plastic trash problem. This new legislation could help fight that. We must sign the petition to speak out against fossil fuel corporations and for people's right to clean air and water! Sign the petition to demand that New York lawmakers pass this bill!