Caroline Griffith, NEC Executive Director
One of the ways that many of us experience the “Individual Action vs. Systemic Change” debate is when it comes to plastic. This month we celebrate Plastic Free July, which is billed as “a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution.” While there is a lot of focus put on choosing not to use plastic, this problem is so much larger than personal choice. The plastics industry (which is essentially the fossil fuel industry) has invested heavily in convincing us that it’s our responsibility as consumers to deal with plastic waste, but the fact of the matter is that of the 40 million tons of plastic waste generated in the US in 2021, only five to six percent of that was recycled. So what can we do, aside from choosing to refuse?
One of the biggest things we need to do is hold industry accountable. They are the ones who created this situation in which nearly everything we purchase comes wrapped in plastic. We shouldn’t forget that plastic is a recent invention. The majority of human existence was plastic-free. We know how to live with less plastic, we just need to stop the cycle. One way to do that is to make it less profitable. On June 30, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 54 a landmark packaging law that requires that:
- 100 percent of packaging in the state be recyclable or compostable by 2032.
- 65 percent of all single-use plastic packaging be recycled by that point.
- Plastic producers help foot the bill for updating our recycling systems.
Although this is one of the strongest Extended Producer Responsibility laws in the country, it was criticized by Zero Waste advocates as being watered down by industry, so there is obviously room for improvement. And although individual change isn’t going to get us out of this predicament (and it feeds into the industry’s assertion that it is our responsibility to tackle the plastic pollution problem, not theirs), trying to go plastic-free is an eye-opening experience that can help us see the enormity of the issue and the need for systemic change. Try to refuse plastic for the month of July. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t do it, but instead try to keep track of what you do use and who created it. And don’t believe that just because it has that chasing arrow symbol on it that it’s actually recyclable. Making the personal choice to refuse plastics can help us lean into our values, see the flaws in our current systems, and more clearly envision what it will take to break society’s plastic addiction. Good luck with this challenge. Let us know how it goes at nec@yournec.org.
