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.
Recycling certainly 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.
The good news is that we have lots of alternatives to single-use plastic items that would prevent needless harm to the environment.
It’s Time To Stop Trashing Our Future
We’re calling for campus, city, and statewide bans on single use plastic products, including straws and take-out foam cups and containers.
Recent Victories
- In 2014 we helped pass the first statewide ban on single-use plastic grocery bags in California, and two years later defending the ban at the ballot box.
- In 2018, our chapters in the Northeast won a campaign to convince Dunkin Donuts to stop using foam cups by 2020.
Join the Movement
By providing my contact information, I am consenting to have the Student PIRGs, and their affiliates contact me with information about this and future campaigns.