Call on the EPA to Support a Plastic Free Environment

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

Every year, more than 250,000 tons of plastic pellets spill into the environment.¹ These tiny fragments, used in plastic manufacturing, swirl in the water and wash up on shore in humongous drifts.

The Clean Water Act is meant to protect our waterways from this kind of harmful pollution — but the current regulations governing plastic are decades old. They aren’t stopping plastic from soiling our shores and threatening our wildlife as plastic production increases.

That’s why PennEnvironment is joining hundreds of other environmental groups to call on the Environmental Protection Agency to set new restrictions on plastic pollution from industrial plants.²

Show your support for a plastic-free environment and join us in calling on the EPA today at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=34832.

Every single plastic particle that falls into the water is another threat to marine wildlife. When thousands of plastic pellets coat the shore like snow, animals are sure to suffer.

Research has found plastic in nearly half of all marine mammal and seabird species, and in every single sea turtle species.^3,4 To a bird or a turtle, a plastic pellet can look a lot like food — not the deadly risk it truly is. If you’ve seen the photos of whales washed up dead on the shore, bellies full of plastic, you know: For the sake of our wildlife, we need to stop the flow of plastic pollution into the environment.

Tell the EPA you support new regulations to stop the discharge of plastic into the environment.

Momentum is growing, and right now we have the chance to make real change. With more than 270 environmental groups calling in unison with a legal petition, the EPA must listen.

By building public pressure as well, we can send a strong signal that we won’t wait any longer for vital updates to the legislation meant to protect our nation’s precious waterways. The plastic pollution that is carelessly spilled today will remain in the environment for hundreds of years. It’s time to stem the tide of plastic before our environment and wildlife suffer any more harm.

Speak out to help stop plastic pollution. Add your name today.

1. Aria Bendix, “Tiny pellets called ‘nurdles’ are leeching into the ocean. A new Shell plant could produce 80 trillion of them a year,” Business Insider, August 21, 2019.
2. Marissa Luck, “Reporter’s Notebook: Plastic makers under fire from enviros, lawmakers,” Houston Chronicle, July 26, 2019.
3. José G.B. Derraik, “The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review,” Marine Pollution Bulletin, September 2002.
4. Matthew Robinson, “Microplastics found in gut of every sea turtle in new study,” CNN, December 5, 2018.