Nothing we use for a few minutes should threaten our health and pollute our future for hundreds of years.
Every day, people throw away tons of plastic “stuff”—cups, plates, bags, containers, forks, knives, spoons and more. All of this waste not only clogs our landfills, trashes our parks, and litters our streets, but it also washes into our rivers and oceans, where it can harm wildlife.
Additionally, “nurdles,” or the small plastic pellets used to make plastic products, are ending up in our waterways by the trillions every year. Companies often face no penalty for dumping nurdles into our water. Animals unintentionally eat these plastic pieces and when we eat those animals, that plastic enters our systems too.
No one should have to worry that their food or water is contaminated with plastic.
Recycling can help mitigate the problem, but unfortunately, of the millions of tons of plastic we produce every year, most is currently not recyclable, and we produce vastly more waste than our recycling infrastructure can handle. As a society, we need to stop creating enormous quantities of unnecessary waste in the first place, rather than focus only on recycling and re-using waste after the fact.
Take Action
We’re calling on Congress to pass the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act and prohibit the discharge of nurdles into our waters.