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Vote to reduce plastics, and clean up the environment
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Vote to reduce plastics, and clean up the environment

Summary

I have endorsed California Plastic Pollution Reduction & Recycling Act. This bill will be on November’s ballot.

Cristina Garcia, Special to CalMatters

Assemblymember Cristina GarciaDemocrat from Bell Gardens.

The Bell Gardens Intermediate School poster from 1987 is still a reminder of me: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

The order of those words is important. Our teachers said to us: First, reduce everything, then reuse what you can’t reduce and finally, recycle what’s left.

However, that is not how it turned out with plastics.

Since fifth grade, plastic production has increased exponentially. Today, we produce approximately 300 million tons of plastic trashEvery year: equal to the entire human population.

We have failed to reduce, although a notable and ironic exception are many immigrant community like mine, which were often raised, often out necessity, to get the most from every resource.

While reuse has been a limited success, there is still a lot to be done if the right incentives are in place, as well as the right investments and intentions. YETI bottles can be expensive and there are few clean water refill stations, even in the most luxurious new buildings and neighborhoods. We reuse a lot in my Mexican immigrant family. Tupperware in our household is made from Country Crock containers. My aunt sends extra pozole to us and menudo in repurposed yogurt container.

It was a good option for the oil industry, the product manufacturers, and the packaging giants. We emphasized recycling because it is the least expensive and most convenient choice. Recycling plastic is a failure. Plastic makes up less than 10%Every thing made has been recycled.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is Convened in NairobiIn an effort to create the first global plastics treaty, the UNEP partnered with non-governmental organizations and nations around the globe. The UNEP issued a statement last spring. NEGLECTED. Environmental Justice Impacts on Marine Litter and Plastic PollutionThis was jointly authored by a California-based environmental justice organisation. Azul.

The report reached a conclusion that I have personally experienced from my own life: plastic pollution is disproportionately affecting marginalized communities and those living near waste sites and plastic production, constituting an environmental injustice. Azuls Marce Guirrez-Graudi stated, Plastic pollution is a problem of social justice. The full range of problems that plastic pollution causes is not being addressed by current efforts to reduce and manage it.

A New national pollOceana, a nonprofit group, found that 8/10 Americans support policies to reduce single-use plastics. Plastics that are meant to be thrown out after one use make up half of all plastics. Americans align with global opinion. IPSOS Publication of a pollRecent research has shown that three-quarters (75%) of the world’s population wants single-use plastics to be banned.

We must re-center the reduction of plastics as a key priority. It’s not enough just to reduce the plastics used in packaging, foodware and products. We also need to pass policies that limit single-use plastics that are made from extracted fossil oils and are used in packaging and products that pollute communities. These items are easy to find in our homes, as they can contaminate our recycling streams, pollute our atmosphere when incinerated, and litter communities, parks, and sacred places. They end up in the oceans and contribute enough greenhouse gases for the country to be the fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Over the past several years, the Legislature tried unsuccessfully to mandate a reduction in single-use plastics. Californians have the opportunity to vote in November for the urgent reductions that we need.

I have just endorsed California Plastic Pollution Reduction & Recycling ActCalifornia’s single-use plastic packaging must be recyclable or compostable by 2030. This mandates that plastic producers reduce single use packaging by at most 25% by 2030. The initiativeThe legislation, which was approved for the November ballot prohibits the distribution plastic foam food containers. It also funds recycling programs, habitat restoration, and environmental cleanup in communities like mine. Producers of single-use plastic packaging and foodware will be charged a fee.

It is a great thing that the Ocean Protection Council unanimously adopted the first country’s first. Statewide microplastics strategyThe report recommends a comprehensive state-wide goal to reduce plastic sources and prohibit the sale or distribution of expanded polystyrene foodstuffware.

California voters should vote “yes” in November. Yes to reducing plastics and yes to cleaning up the environment and communities that have been unfairly impacted by litter, pollution, incineration, and illegal dumping. Also, yes to combating climate change. Yes to reducing being the priority.

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Cristina Garcia has also written about this topic. Legislation that will ensure environmental justiceTo protect communities from toxic substances

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