“In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain 1 tonne of plastic for every 3 tonnes of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight).”
- World Economic Forum Report
Let’s start with one fact - this plastic pollution crisis is NOT your fault, it’s theirs. Who do we mean? Oil companies, the plastics industry, the beverage industry, and everyone who financially benefits from single-use plastic bottle sales. There it is, we said it. And it’s probably a dangerous thing to say, but in order for us to get real about our plastics crisis, we have to get real about the people who profit from it. How do we do that? We must follow the money! According to a World Economic Report from 2016, the financial reality of plastics packaging was exposed:
“After a short first-use cycle, 95% of plastic packaging material value, or $80–120 billion annually, is lost to the economy. The cost of after-use externalities (what we the people pay) for plastic packaging, plus the cost associated with greenhouse gas emissions from its production, is conservatively estimated at $40 billion annually – exceeding the plastic packaging industry’s profit pool. In the future, these costs will have to be covered.”
What does this mean? It means that WE, the people, pay over $40 billion annually to deal with all of the problems on the backend that the plastic packaging industry has created.
Here’s how WE, THE PEOPLE are funding plastic pollution:
- We pay for plastics disposal because most plastics are not truly recyclable
- We pay for costs associated with the death of wildlife and loss of species biodiversity
- We pay for costs associated with carbon emissions from fossil fuels in manufacturing plastics
- We pay with mysterious health issues associated with plastics that are only now being researched and understood
- We pay for the trash pickups required to clean up our neighborhoods
- We pay with our health bills when plastics are increasingly burned, pollute our air, and make us sick
- We pay with all of the taxes associated with plastics “recycling” - read disposal.
- We pay, we pay, we pay...
So if we keep paying, long after grabbing that seemingly innocent single-use plastic bottled water from the convenience store fridge - who are we funding?
Knock, knock! The future is here, and it’s now or never for us to curb the cycle of plastic trash that's murdering wildlife. It’s time for manufacturers to take responsibility for the damage they’ve caused. So when we say it’s not your fault, we’re saying YOU did not start this. YOU did not choose to be inundated by plastics. But what you can do is get involved and say NO MORE SINGLE-USE PET PLASTICS! California legislators are drafting policy to phase out single-use plastics with AB1080. We think this is great! However, they’re leaving out two key types of single-use plastics, PET and HDPE, that are detrimental to our waste stream and our oceans. Learn more & sign now!
DEMAND THAT CALIFORNIA ADD PET PLASTIC TO AB1080 - FOR PHASING OUT SINGLE-USE PET PLASTICS >
This is NOT another basic call to action that makes you feel bad or blames you for the crazy fact that people bulk purchase NOT WATER, but PLASTIC TRASH. Sure, you can bring your bags to the store, ride a bike, and pat yourself on the back all day long. But, better yet, what if we all WAKE UP and start pointing the finger in the right direction - AT THEM?! Not each other, not us, not the people. We didn’t ask for this mess.
It’s time to demand that our representatives tackle our plastic problem in favor of the people and planet when writing laws that phase out plastic. Don't let the voice of plastic lobbyists for PET or HDPE be louder than yours. We can do this together!
JOIN US! POST the “fish in the bottle” image below (hold down image to save) + use this caption:
By 2050, there is expected to be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
- World Economic Forum Report @pathwater #OurPath2050 #pathwater