I still have the Bell Gardens Intermediate School poster that I saw in 1987. It said Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
It was important that the order of these words was correct. Our teachers taught us to reduce everything possible, then reuse anything we can’t reduce, and finally recycle what is left.
But that’s not how it turned out, especially when it comes to plastics.
Plastic pollution and production have increased exponentially since fifth grade. Today, we produce about 300 million tons of waste plastic every year. This is equivalent to the entire population.
We have failed to reduce, but a notable exception is many immigrant communities such as mine, who were often raised out of necessity to get the most out every resource.
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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 cost a lot and water refill stations are not always available in newer buildings. We reuse a lot in my Mexican immigrant household. Tupperware we use is Country Crock containers. My aunt sends extra pozole to us and menudo in repurposed yogurt container.
It served the oil industry and product manufacturers. Because of the convenience and low cost, we emphasized recycling. Recycling plastic is a failure. Less than 10% of all plastic ever made has been recycled.
The United Nations Environment Programme, a group of nations and non-governmental organisations from around the globe, is meeting in Nairobi to develop the first global plastics agreement. Last spring, UNEP published NEGLECTED – Environmental Justice Impacts of Marine Litter & Plastic Pollution. It was jointly authored and co-authored with Azul, a California-based environmental organization.
The report came to a conclusion I know from personal experience: Plastic pollution disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, people living near plastic production sites and waste sites, constituting an extreme environmental injustice. Azuls Marce GutirrezGraudi stated that plastic pollution is a social injustice issue. The current efforts to reduce plastic pollution are not sufficient to address all the problems it causes.
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Oceana, a non-profit group, has released a new national poll that shows 8 in 10 Americans support policies to reduce single use plastics. These plastics are intended to be thrown away after one use and account for half of all plastics made. According to IPSOS, three-quarters (75%) of respondents worldwide want single-use plastics to end.
Re-centering reduction must be a 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. These items are made from extracted fossil oils and are then processed into plastics at polluting plants located in our most vulnerable communities. These items end up in our homes as convenient toxic substances, pollute our environment when incinerated, and litter our parks, communities, and sacred places. If plastics were an entire country, they are dumped in the oceans. They also contribute enough greenhouse gases to rank fifth in the world.
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 urgently needed reductions.
I have just endorsed the California Plastic Pollution Reduction and Recycling Act. This law prohibits single-use plastic packaging from being distributed in California. It also funds habitat restoration and environmental cleanup programs in communities like mine. Producers of single-use plastic foodware and packaging will be charged a fee.
It is encouraging that the Ocean Protection Council unanimously adopted a first-of-its-kind statewide microplastics policy. It recommends statewide goals for plastic source reduction and prohibits 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 the key driver of climate changes. Yes to reducing as the priority.
AssemblymemberCristina Garcia, a Democrat from Bell Gardens, represents Californias 58th Assembly District.
