Leave a public comment telling the GSA to reduce federal spending on plastic.

 

Tell the GSA to reduce the amount of plastic it purchases for the federal government before the public comment period closes on Sept. 5.

As one of the biggest contributors to our planet's plastic waste crisis, our country needs to do everything it can to reduce our consumption of plastic. Add your voice to help shift government spending away from single-use plastic products.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/07/07/2022-14403/general-services-administration-acquisition-regulation-gsar-single-use-plastics-and-packaging

Every 15 and a half hours, Americans throw out enough plastic to fill the largest NFL stadium in the country, and the pile grows larger every year.1

As one of the biggest contributors to our planet's plastic waste crisis, our country needs to do everything it can to reduce our consumption of plastic -- and especially the single-use plastics that we just don't need.

One way our federal government can act right now? By phasing out its own purchase of plastic bags and other single-use plastic products. Add your name today.

The U.S. government is the biggest purchaser of consumer goods and services in the world, spending $650 billion per year. The goods it purchases include a mountain of plastic products -- the single-use plastic bags, utensils, straws, bottles, packaging and other plastic products purchased for use in government buildings and at official events.2,3

By wielding its purchasing power more responsibly -- phasing out the purchase of all these single-use plastics -- the federal government can make a dent in our country's overall plastic consumption.

Right now, the Goods and Services Administration (GSA) is reviewing a proposal that would do just that. We can't miss any opportunity to take a bite out of our growing plastic waste crisis.4

Tell the GSA to reduce the amount of plastic it purchases for the federal government before the public comment period closes on Sept. 5.

Given that the lifespan of a single plastic bag is 1,000 years and doesn't ever fully degrade, this kind of regulation is long overdue.5

1. Alex Truelove, Adrian Pforzheimer, "Trash in America," U.S. PIRG Education Fund, September 2021.
2. Sharon Udasin, "NGOs petition the Biden administration to stop buying single-use plastic," The Hill, February 4, 2022.
3. Jack Forrest, "Feds consider phasing out single-use plastics," E&E News, July 8, 2022.
4. Jack Forrest, "Feds consider phasing out single-use plastics," E&E News, July 8, 2022.
5. Sharon Udasin, "NGOs petition the Biden administration to stop buying single-use plastic," The Hill, February 4, 2022.

More information: 

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/federal-purchases-of-single-use-plastics-targeted-by-bidens-gsa

Urge your Members of Congress to support the Break Free from Plastic Prevention Act

Please, reach out to your Members of Congress to support the Break Free from Plastic Prevention Act of 2021 (H.R. 2238, S.984) and to thank Rep. Grijalva for co-sponsoring the Act.

Below is the letter drafted by the head of  Sustainable Tucson's Zero Plastic Waste Team, Kevin Green. You can cut and paste your message on their website (addresses below.)

Rep. Kirkpatrick
https://kirkpatrick.house.gov/contact/email-me/
Phone: 520-881-3588

Rep. O'halleran
https://ohalleran.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email
520-316-0839

Sen. Sinema
https://www.sinema.senate.gov/contact-kyrsten
(520) 639-7080

Sen. Kelly
https://www.kelly.senate.gov/
520-475-5177

To thank Rep. Grijalva for being a co-sponsor of the act:

Rep. Grijalva
https://grijalva.house.gov/contact-raul/
(520) 622-6788

Sample letter:

I am reaching out to urge you to support the Break Free from Plastic Prevention Act of 2021 (H.R. 2238, S.984). Introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA), this bill represents the most comprehensive set of policy solutions to the plastic pollution crisis ever introduced in the U.S. Congress.

Introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA), this bill represents the most comprehensive set of policy solutions to the plastic pollution crisis ever introduced in the U.S. Congress.

The United States generates more plastic waste than any country in the world. Plastic is made from fossil fuels by processes that cause air pollution and contribute to climate change. Up to 50% of plastics manufactured are for single-use purposes — used for just a few moments and then discarded. Most plastic is never recycled — over 90% of it ends up in landfills or our oceans.

Plastic pollution is inundating our communities, our waterways, and even our bodies. It is making its way into our food, drinking water, and even the air in the form of microplastics — plastic debris that breaks up into smaller and smaller particles.

Plastic contributes to climate change at every step of its life cycle, from extraction to refinement, manufacture, transportation, disposal, and waste.

The BFFPPA will tackle the exploding crisis of plastic pollution and transform waste and recycling management in the U.S. Key provisions of the bill include:

• Phasing out unnecessary single-use plastics,
• Establishing national recycling targets,
• Shifting responsibility for waste management and recycling to the manufacturers and producers,
• Establishing minimum recycled content standards,
• Encouraging a shift to refillable and reusable alternatives,
• Creating a moratorium on new plastic production facilities

These changes are all important to help ensure a healthy and climate resilient future.

We cannot simply recycle our way out of a crisis this massive. Corporations and plastic producers must take responsibility for the waste created by their products. We must address the problem at the source by reducing the amount of single-use plastic we use and encouraging a shift toward better and reusable materials.

Please support this national legislation that is crucial to meaningfully addressing the plastic waste problem.

ASK GROCERY STORES TO PHASE OUT SINGLE-USE PLASTIC CHECKOUT BAGS

Workers removing plastic bags from recycling machines

As some of you know, Tucson is having a recycling crisis. Because of the contamination in our recycling, it is becoming cost prohibitive to keep the program running. First, they will cut back recycling pickups to twice a month and could raise the cost from the current range of 15 cents to 45 cents per household monthly. That is particularly due to the plastic bags that people try to recycle or bag their recycling items in. Every 2-3 hours, the recycling people have to stop the machine and remove the plastic bags wrapped in the gears by hand!

It is time that we ask grocery stores to take responsibility for getting us hooked on plastic bags in the first place! 

PLEASE, TAKE A MINUTE TO ASK GROCERY STORES TO PHASE OUT

SINGLE-USE PLASTIC CHECKOUT BAGS!

Add your name now

https://petitions.signforgood.com/StopPlasticPollution?code

Every minute, the equivalent of an entire garbage truck of plastic gets dumped into our oceans. That’s 8 MILLION tons entering our oceans each year. We have to act now.
Plastic never goes away – it breaks down, poisoning our environment and marine life. And the situation is dire: Researchers are finding plastic pollution at the deepest depths of the ocean. Vulnerable species like sea turtles and blue whales are being pushed closer to extinction. And without drastic action, by 2050, there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. It’s a recipe for disaster of the highest magnitude.

But we can do something to stop this. Up to 80% of plastic in our oceans comes from land-based sources, including single-use plastic checkout bags: Shoppers worldwide use 500 BILLION checkout bags – and right now, we need your help to pressure corporations to take action and phase-out these single-use plastics. If big grocery chains take action, they can make a huge dent in this crisis.

We’ve already started to make progress: The nation’s largest grocery chain has already committed to phasing out plastic checkout bags. But to truly make a difference, we need grassroots advocates to demand their competitors do the same. Can we count on you to add your name now to demand Albertson’s and Safeway end single-use plastic checkout bags in their stores? The health and vitality of our oceans depend on it – we can’t afford to wait a single moment. Sign the petition and help protect our marine life from deadly plastic pollution!
Petition sponsors:

Clean Water Action
California League of Conservation voters
Daily Kos
Friends of the Earth Action
Plastic Pollution Coalition
Sierra Club

More Information on recycling in Tucson: 

City of Tucson to cut back on recycling pickup in cost-cutting measure

New Rules for Recycling in Tucson 

Tell Nestle: Solve your single-use plastic problem SOONER

Greenpeace divided up plastic trash on the beach by companies responsible

The petition to Nestle CEO Ulf Mark Schneider reads: "Stop choking our oceans with single-use plastics. Set a target and timeline to dramatically reduce single-use packaging and invest in large-scale alternatives focused on refill and reuse." Add your name:

Plastic pollution is a global crisis. Companies like Nestle are driving that crisis. Nestle sells a billion products a day, with 98% of them wrapped in single-use packaging.2 Unless Nestle and its peers change course, our oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050.3  Eighty-eight pounds of plastic. That's what scientists discovered in the stomach of an emaciated young whale that died in March. With its stomach full of plastic waste and nothing else, the whale had starved to death.1 Tell Nestle: Solve your single-use plastic problem. Click here to sign the petition. Nestle used 1.7 million tons of plastic packaging last year.4 Much of that is single-use packaging – wrappers and bottles that provide momentary convenience and then exist in our world for lifetimes. One study that analyzed garbage in 42 countries found Nestle products to be the third most often recovered pieces of ocean trash.5 Thanks to pressure from our friends at Greenpeace and the Break Free from Plastic Coalition, Nestle is starting to make promises about cleaning up its act. Nestle even pledged to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.6 The problem is that making plastic recyclable doesn't solve anything. Over 90% of plastics are not recycled.7 We need to actually reduce the amount of plastic waste we produce, period. But Nestle is hiding its failure to address single-use plastics by focusing on recycling instead. Last year CREDO members and other activists successfully pushed Starbucks to commit to eliminating plastic in its cups. We can do the same thing with Nestle. Nestle has the market power to shift the way people use plastic all over the world. It needs to take responsibility for driving the plastic pollution crisis and act now. Tell Nestle: Solve your single-use plastic problem. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/nestle-plastics?t=9&akid=32445%2E3130208%2EeHRBDC - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Alejandra Borunda, "This young whale died with 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach," National Geographic, March 18, 2019. Ivy Schlegel and Maddeleine Cobbying, "Nestle: A giant plastic problem," Greenpeace, April 2019. Sarah Kaplan, "By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, study says," The Washington Post, Jan. 20, 2016. Schlegel and Cobbying, "Nestle: A giant plastic problem." Ibid. Ibid. Laura Parker, "A whopping 91% of plastic isn't recycled," National Geographic, Dec. 20, 2018.

Support the plastic protesters at Nestle's headquarters. Contact the company now!

Outside Nestlé’s United States corporate headquarters with your message AND a giant plastic monster!

Yesterday, Greenpeace activists showed up at other Nestlé offices all over the world. We need to strike while the iron is hot. Make your voice heard by calling Nestlé right now at 1-888-918-6672. Let’s make sure this is a day Nestlé executives never forget.

In 2018 alone, Nestlé was responsible for creating nearly 4 billion pounds of single-use plastic packaging that in many cases is not recyclable or reusable — instead it will end up as waste forever haunting our planet!

Will you help us tell Nestlé how dire the plastic pollution crisis truly is? Call Nestlé right this moment at 1-888-918-6672 and tell them they must phase out their reliance on single-use plastic packaging, and move to refillable and reusable options.

I cannot bear to see another headline about communities overrun by the global waste trade – or another dead whale with a gut full of plastic. So my friends and I called out Nestlé at its office with a giant monster made with discarded Nestlé packaging. If you feel like I do, please join us by calling out Nestlé over the phones.

Calling is easy, takes less than two minutes, and is one of the best ways to make sure Nestlé is listening. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Dial 1-888-918-6672.
2. Listen to a short message from Greenpeace. We’ll then patch you through to Nestlé’s customer service line.
3. When you’re connected, be polite and say what you think about Nestlé’s plastic packaging. Here is a suggested script:

Hi, my name is ___________and I’m calling from CITY, STATE. I’m very concerned by the massive amount of single-use plastic pollution and Nestlé is one of the largest global corporations that relies heavily on such packaging. I would like Nestlé to be an industry leader and phase out single-use plastic, while innovating bold, new solutions like refillable and reusable packaging. Thank you!

You can also send a message demanding an end to single-use plastic on Nestle's Facebook. 

Not on Facebook? No problem, you can send a message on Instagram or Twitter.

Nestlé needs to hear from you right now. You’ve already joined millions signing petitions demanding an end to its single-use plastic and spreading the word on social media. They know they’ve created a problem, but they don’t want to be the ones to solve it. The solution, however, is in their hands, and the time is now. Nestlé must make the switch to systems of reuse. 

- Kate Melges, Greenpeace USA

Sign the petition: Tell Nestlé to stop producing single-use plastic

Plastic pollution is jeopardizing human health and harming marine animals like whales and sea turtles at alarming rates.

We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis. Over 90% of plastics are not recycled. Communities in Southeast Asia are used as dumping ground through the global waste trade. We have to hold brands accountable and demand alternatives to cheap throwaway plastic packaging.

Recent cleanups and audits of plastic waste have revealed that Nestlé is one of the worst plastic polluters. Nestlé sells a billion products a day with 98% of them wrapped in single-use packaging.

Nestlé must stop endangering our oceans, communities, and wildlife around the world.

Sign the petition to tell Nestlé: Stop producing single-use plastic and immediately start shifting toward refillable and reusable products!

Thanks to pressure from the global Break Free From Plastic movement, Nestlé has finally acknowledged the plastic pollution crisis. But the company has yet to take meaningful action and continues to churn out throwaway plastics that will exist in our world for lifetimes. No material used for momentary convenience should have an impact that severe.

Now is the time to call for real action from Nestlé. Add your name to demand Nestlé immediately begin to phase out single-use plastics!

Our Message to U. Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé:

I am calling on you to take meaningful action to address the plastic pollution crisis and immediately start shifting toward systems of refill and reuse. Nestlé must do more than acknowledge the problem with vague plans to phase out single-use plastics in a minuscule portion of its product lines. As a leader in the industry it must move with the urgency and scale needed to protect communities, oceans and wildlife. We will no longer jeopardize our environment for the sake of packaging.

Participating Organizations:

Climate Hawks Vote

Climate Parents

Daily Kos

Friends of the Earth Action

GAIA

Greenpeace

Plastic Pollution Coalition

Stand

More Information:

These 5 Marine Animals Are Dying Because of Our Plastic Trash … Here’s How We Can Help

#CrushPlastic Movement

Support HB 2395 to Save Local Recycling, the Environment, and Our Economy

Think this view will attract tourists? 

This has been a year of action for Sustainable Tucson. We committed to including an action with every educational meeting.

At our Recycling and Beyond meeting, we not only learned about the new rules for recycling and why they are important, but we also formed a Zero Plastic Waste team. Here is a recording of our first meeting. But it is really a working group. We already wrote and promoted the blog, "Lessons from Our Recycling Queen."  (I suggest everyone read and learn it. Our bad recycling is making it cost prohibitive to have a recycling program in Tucson.) We just finished drafting a one-sheet  (two sides) about HB2395 - which repeals the law that makes it illegal for towns like Bisbee to ban plastic grocery bags and other packaging. The one-sheet will be included in attendees' folders for Environmental Day at the Capitol and they will be handed to our state legislators.

Even if you can't attend Environmental Day at the Capitol, you can still help out by e-mailing your state representatives and asking them to support HB2395. 

Feel free to attach a link to the one-sheet to your e-mail: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L6LYwJBw640kMmrgZbVvgKG3TClm9R36/view?usp=sharing

And here is the link to the actual bill,  HB2395, that repeals ARS 9-500.38 and 11-269.16:

https://bit.ly/2GD3LIO

To find out who your Representative is, just find your district and use that to look up your Rep.

If you haven't already, you might wanna go ahead and sign up for Request to Speak. I will be posting opportunities to weigh in on this bill when it gets into committee. 

----

Support HB 2395 to Save Local Recycling, the Environment, and Our Economy

A Local Solution Thwarted by State Government

The most recent visitors study estimated that tourism brought nearly $280 million per year of revenue to businesses in Cochise County. In an effort to make Bisbee more attractive to tourists, the city passed an ordinance in 2012 banning single-use plastic bags, becoming the first city in Arizona to do so. The mayor of Bisbee, David M. Smith, claimed that before the ordinance was enacted, plastic bags sullied the street, helicoptered through the air, and draped over cactuses. Mayor Smith said that the ban “made a huge difference” and that most residents were “thrilled” by the ban. Opponents of the ban on plastic bags, including Sen. Warren Petersen, claimed that the government should not be micromanaging what types of bags consumers used. Thus, in reaction to this bag ban, legislators passed a law (ARS 9-500.38 and 11-269.16) that prohibits local city and county governments from enacting bans on “auxiliary containers”—in other words, plastic bags. Bisbee was forced to repeal their ordinance banning plastic bags or lose nearly two million dollars in state funding.

House Bill 2395, which has been sponsored by Rep. Kirsten Engel, Rep. Sally Gonzales, and Sen. Juan Mendez, calls for the repeal of the portions of Arizona Law that prohibit local city and county governments from enacting bans on auxiliary containers. The bill does not itself institute a ban on plastic bags; however, it allows communities to decide at the local level whether they wish to ban them. Now while some legislators may believe that plastic bags are innocuous and that preventing their use is “micromanaging,” the effects of plastic bag contamination on our local recycling efforts are substantial and preventing local solutions is costly.

Plastic bags getting caught in machinery makes it cost prohibitive to recycle in Tucson.

Contamination Costly to Recycling Facilities:

• Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) are not equipped to handle plastic bags, which get tangled in the recycling sorting equipment. Plastic bag contamination requires machinery to be shut down every three hours for cleaning, which wastes workers’ time and taxpayers’ money. Tucson’s recycling program had a deficit of $17,000 in FY 2018 and a projected deficit of $900,000 for FY 2019. 
• The City of Phoenix estimates that clearing plastic bags from recycling equipment costs nearly $1 million dollars in lost time annually. 

Plastic Contaminates Our Food and Water Supply

Single use plastic bags from grocery stores present a myriad of issues for our environment. Hundreds of millions of plastic bags make it into landfills and oceans every year. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more pieces of plastic in the ocean than there are fish. Plastic bags don’t decompose like plant material. Instead they photodegrade which means they just break down into smaller pieces of plastic. These smaller pieces of plastic serve as a kind of magnet that absorb toxins. Those toxins can then be transferred into animals that eat the debris, meaning that they can eventually end up in our food supply and ultimately in our bodies.

Bag Bans can be Effective

There is significant evidence that bans on plastic bags can be effective. In San Jose, Santa Monica, and LA County, bans resulted in huge increases in people using reusable bags (increase from 5% to 45%) or going without a bag (increase from 17% to 40%). This behavioral shift resulted in these municipalities avoiding the use of hundreds of millions of single use plastic bags. Studies showed that “[l]ocal economies are not negatively impacted in the long run.”

Please Support HB2395 

Local governments have been working hard with non-profit organizations, city waste-management agencies, businesses, college and high school students, and citizen volunteers to find ways to eliminate plastic bags from the waste stream. This issue requires consideration of bans, fees, and/or improved recycling efforts by local participants. ARS 9-500.38 and 11-269.16 significantly interferes with these efforts. Please support HB 2395 so that municipalities can continue developing solutions in concert with local businesses, residents, and others.

Tell Corporations: develop plans to phase out single-use plastic

Corporations have created a plastic monster that is destroying the planet. Over 90% of the plastics ever produced have not been recycled, yet corporations have plans to dramatically increase their production of plastic packaging. By 2050, it is predicted that there will be 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste in natural environments.

People living along rivers and coastlines in Southeast Asia and in other communities around the world are among the most impacted by plastic pollution—and they are often the ones blamed for the plastic pollution crisis even though they did not create the problem!

More than 3 million people around the world have joined Greenpeace to urge companies to stop polluting our planet with throwaway plastic. And it’s working. Because of mounting pressure from people like you, corporations are finally starting to admit that they are part of the problem, and they are talking about solutions. But we don’t need more talking—we need concrete, urgent action to stop plastic pollution at the source!

Tell Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo., Colgate, Danone, Johnson & Johnson, and Mars to be transparent about exactly how much plastic packaging they are producing and make concrete plans to reduce that amount. It is time for these corporations to invest in alternative ways to deliver their products to us and phase out single-use plastic! These companies have created a monster, and we are not willing to allow the plastic monster to grow any more. We need concrete plans for reduction, and we need them now!

Add your name to ask the CEOs of these companies to do their part to end the plastic pollution crisis by making concrete plans to reduce the amount of plastic packaging they are producing!

Click here to send the following message:

To the CEOs of Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Mars, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson and Johnson, Danone:

Make concrete plans to reduce your plastic footprint now! I urge you to work with Greenpeace and develop concrete plans to phase out single-use plastic packaging and invest in alternative ways to deliver your products that will not endanger our oceans or communities around the world. Slay the plastic monster you have created!

Turn up the heat on Albertsons! Tell them to end throwaway plastic!

The plastic-free movement is gaining momentum!   Nearly two and a half million people around the globe have joined you in telling corporations to stop producing throwaway plastic.

The millions of metric tons of plastic that enter our ocean each year are enough to cover every foot of coastline in the world!1 And that’s just a fraction of the total plastic production — which is set to dramatically increase if we don’t demand change now!

Now it's time to focus that energy on supermarkets. Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, has pledged to phase-out single-use plastic bags. By its count, Kroger uses about 6 billion plastic bags a year. Supermarkets like Kroger are hearing the message from concerned citizens like you all over the world to get rid of single-use plastic!

But we’re just getting started! We’re part of a coalition asking Albertsons Companies, another large supermarket chain (and owner of Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, and many other supermarket chains), to commit to phasing-out plastic bags. If Albertsons joins Kroger, we can eliminate an additional 3 billion plastic bags every year!

Sign our joint petition: Urge Albertsons to eliminate single-use plastics in its stores!

Our message to Albertsons is simple, but powerful: plastic bags are used for just a few minutes, but pollute our environment, wildlife, and oceans for a lifetime. Recycling alone will never be enough to solve the plastic pollution crisis — we need Albertsons and other companies to stop forcing plastic onto consumers like you and me. Albertsons can follow Kroger's lead by banning single-use plastic bags, but must go even further and commit to phasing out all single-use plastics in its stores nationwide!

Over the last several months, we have seen a surge of awareness about the impacts of throwaway plastic. Every week there are announcements from airlines, universities, towns, and even whole countries committing to phasing out single-use plastics. Change is possible, and it’s happening before our very eyes. This is why it’s so important to keep the momentum going and call on Albertsons to join the growing trend.

Tell Albertsons to be on the right side of change and demand it joins Kroger in phasing-out plastic bags!

- Natalie Nava, Plastics Project Leader, Greenpeace USA

[1] sciencemag.org/news/2015/02/here-s-how-much-plastic-enters-ocean-each-year

Sign this petition: Urge Albertsons to eliminate single-use plastics in its stores!

Please, consider adding a paragraph explaining how one use plastic effects you and your town. That way your comment won't be disregarded as a form letter.

Here is the personal message I added - to be considered an example.

I live in Tucson. Arizona. We are a tourist town. But how can we continue to attract tourists if ugly plastic trash lines our city streets? Now China has refused to take our recyclables. One of the reasons is because plastic grocery bags get caught in their machines - making it too costly. Our recycling company wants to cut back our service because of the cost. (2)

 

Please, take steps to educate your customers about one use plastic and eventually phase them out. 

(2)  Arizona Daily Star article: Making Tucson's recycling program profitable, successful

#nosingleuseplastic