2020 Goals and Activities
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On Earth Day we spent some time picking up trash in our neighborhoods. The number one item – plastic bags!
Here’s someone else picking up trash in his neighborhood - The Trashman of Hamline-Midway -
We’re binge-watching ‘UNWRAPPED – The Health Risks of Plastics + Food Packaging Chemicals’. This June 2019 conference is part of Plastic Exposed, an international project working to increase global recognition of the known human health risks of plastic and other single-use food packaging and promote a culture shift to safer reusable alternatives.
We Recommend you Watch the presentation by Marciel V. Maffini (11:57 minutes)
Chemical Migration of Food Contact Materials into Food -
We’re following a bill introduced in February, by Rep. Alan Lowenthal and Sen. Tom Udall. This unprecedented legislation that seeks to meaningfully address the plastic pollution crisis by shifting responsibility for waste management and recycling to manufacturers and producers. Read More about the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act.
Representatives Omar and McCollum have co-sponsored the bill. Contact Your Member of Congress and ask them to support this important bill. -
The New York Times and Unearthed recently reported that The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is lobbying to use Kenya as a dumping ground for plastics. The US and Kenya are in the middle of negotiating a trade agreement and comments for this agreement from ACC raise concerns that they want to push Kenya to reverse its strict limits on plastic and restrict their ability to limit imports of plastic waste. The ACC thinks the agreement could “… provide new market access for U.S.-made exports of chemicals and plastics”, “Enable trade in waste,” and also said “We anticipate that Kenya could serve in the future as a hub for supplying U.S.-made chemicals and plastics to other markets in Africa through this trade agreement.” Let your Members of Congress know how you feel about this.
2019 Goals and Activities
Tours / Speakers / Classes
We recently visited Tech Dump to learn about recycling e-waste and toured the Mdewakanton Sioux Organics Recycling Facility to learn about composting. We’ve heard presentations on textile recycling and had a class on how to live more sustainably.
Outreach / Tabling
We have tabled at several events this year, including Brazil Fest, Waterfest and Marketfest and highlighted the impact of plastic water bottles.
Legislation
In 2019, we supported the successful campaign for sustainable to-go containers in St Paul and lobbied for the “Right to Repair”, “Carpet Stewardship”, and “Plastic Bag Ban Repeal” bills at the Legislature.
