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The Plastic Problem

 

GOAL:

 

ZWA intends to promote new policies that will lead to a reduction in single use plastics in the Town of Amherst. We will do this by adapting the best practices from existing bans in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the USA. Through working with town officials, the Business Improvement District (BID), restaurants, organizations and the community, to adopt and implement these best practices and policies, we’ll enjoy the health benefits for humans, reduce hauler fees for trash and more. Please help us and join ZWA today!

 

THE PLASTIC PROBLEM:

 

We have a bad habit: we have become a throw away culture. Our culture used to function on re-usable products quite successfully. Now, we our planet and our communities cannot keep up with the trash and pollution created from single use items and we are drowning in stuff. Our plastic use has become a crisis. The production, consumption, and disposal of plastic are all bad for human health and the environment. Plastics never fully break down and end up in landfills and oceans and is finding its way into our bodies and ingested by marine life. 

 

More than 10 million tons of plastics enter the ocean annually, and scientists predict there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of plastics in the ocean are single-use items. Plastics contribute hazards to human health, environmental health, and societal economies. (per Nantucket SUP ban: https://www.nantucket-ma.gov/1475/Single-Use-Plastics-Ban). Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the Earth four times. 

 

And guess what?  here is no AWAY, no way to throw our trash away.  Recycling is only a partial answer. The truth is that over 90% of the plastic generated never gets recycled and ends up in landfills or scattered all around the world. Most is not even recyclable to begin with. 
 

WHAT IS ZERO WASTE AMHERST DOING?

 

ZWA will be helping our communities break free of plastics through:

 

  1. Research of best practices in existing bans

  2. Exploration of alternative products, practices to single use plastics

  3. Research of the effects of bans on consumption reduction, waste reduction and carbon emissions

  4. Collaborating with other regional organizations, Town of Amherst departments

  5. Providing outreach and education to businesses, restaurants and community members

  6. Proposal of a ban on single use plastics bylaw

 

Towns that have embraced various bans, discovered and implemented creative alternatives to single-use plastics and quickly discovered that they could live without them. Businesses and consumers have adapted and are creating positive changes in the process. There are 139 towns and cities in Massachusetts with plastic bag bans (awaiting a state-wide ban) and 47 with polystyrene bans. At least 3 municipalities have single use plastic items bans including Buckland and Williamstown and no place is as comprehensive in banning single use plastic as Nantucket. Other towns have  some form of plastic bottle bans including: Concord, Lincoln, Falmouth, Hyannis and some towns on Martha’s Vineyard. The bans stop single-use petroleum based plastic products from being commercially used, sold or distributed. 

 

Although bans won’t solve the plastic crisis on their own, they do help to change plastic consumption habits and cause consumers and retailers to be more open to alternatives. The California bag ban has reduced plastic bag consumption by 71.5% – a huge decrease. Some great info.

 

POWERFUL FORCES:

 

The plastics industry is a powerful force against change. Its lobby, the American Chemical Council, spends millions of dollars a year to convince policymakers that solutions are not their responsibility and discourage consumers from considering alternatives to disposable plastics. Amer Chem Council has themselves said 40 or 60% (I forget now) of the plastic is made to be thrown away. 

Manufacturers have created this throw-away culture by mass-producing disposable goods. 

 

A stark example of this can be seen in the suspension of the Massachusetts plastic bag ban. The reason we can’t use reusable grocery bags during the COVID-19 emergency is not because they pose a greater public health hazard than paper or single use plastic but because the plastics industry effectively lobbied to get single use bag ordinances overturned or suspended in response to the pandemic.

 

Clearly, when it comes time to deal with all that waste, we are the ones who pay the price: with our health, litter in our communities, death and entanglement of marine life, to name a few. The burden of management and responsibility is placed on municipalities and tax-payers.

 

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

 

Yes you can, We can! As the plastic is piling up, we have an opportunity to: pause, reflect and redirect our efforts to actual sustainable solutions. We can all play a part to create much needed reform: individuals, businesses, manufacturers, towns and states. Fortunately, there are ways we can change and reduce all the plastic. 22 Facts About Plastic Pollution (And 10 Things We Can Do About It)

For the health of our communities and our planet, achieving zero waste must be everyone’s goal.  Here’s what you do right now!

 

  1. Join Amherst Zero Waste group

  2. Tell your state representative to stand up for #BreakFreeFromPlastic

  3. Take the ZERO WASTE CHALLENGE--start today!  

 

 

RESOURCES:

 

As we research the effectiveness of the myriad solutions, there are invaluable resources to guide the process. Here are a few:

  1. Clean Water Action works with individuals and businesses to make a change from single use plastics to re-usable products 

  2. Mass. Green Network works with municipalities to reduce plastic waste in their communities through a comprehensive website with resources and best practices drawn from the experience of municipalities in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

  3. Our local, Center for Eco Technology helps people and businesses save energy and reduce waste.

  4. The Conservation Law Foundation is advocating for systematic changes to New England recycling and waste management, including bans on single-use plastics, bottle bill expansions, and producer responsibility for packaging.

  5. People eat 50,000 plastic particles/year

  6. Plastics kill the oceans

  7. Concord Plastic Bottle Ban

  8. Martha’s Vineyard Plastic Bottle Ban

  9. Cape Cod Plastic Bottle Ban

  10. Lincoln Plastic Bottle Ban (bags too!)

  11. Great information here from Greenpeace: Plastic Pollution FAQs

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