In a recent study, researchers have discovered bottled water sold in stores can contain 10 to 100 times more bits of plastic than previously estimated — nanoparticles so infinitesimally tiny they cannot be seen under a microscope. Here’s the link to the complete article: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/health/bottled-water-nanoplastics-study-wellness/index.html. Bottom line: we’re going to need to move to glass, ceramic, or stainless steel for our drinking water.

I’m sharing this email from a friend of mine that came out yesterday (Halloween) and confirms what was already feared WRT (With Respect To) this heinous farce. The report itself is 159 pages, but the Fact Sheet paints a clear picture and is only 6 pages on the report link. Your may need to go to beyondplastics.org to access their links. They also have a link to take action and urge Congress to reject this dangerous “Chemical Recycling” fantasy.

“Ghosts and skeletons may be roaming the streets today but you know what really scares me? Chemical recycling, a set of dirty, polluting, climate change speeding technological processes the plastics and petrochemical industry is touting as the solution to the global plastic pollution crisis it created. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth…

To shine a light on the truth of this polluting set of supremely expensive stalling tactics, I am proud to share our new report, “Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception” with you today.

We wrote this report with our good friends at IPEN (the International Pollutants Elimination Network) who contributed incredibly valuable expertise and a remarkable volume of research hours.

Among the report’s major findings are the following:

• Chemical recycling is a false solution to the plastic pollution crisis;
• Chemical recycling is inefficient, energy-intensive, and speeds climate change;
• Chemical recycling creates large amounts of toxic waste;
• Chemical recycling is dangerous and dirty and threatens environmental justice communities across the country;
• Plastics recycling moves poisons around our economy and environment;
• Eliminating or relaxing existing regulations puts our health at risk; and more.

The report also includes a detailed investigation of the United States’ 11 existing chemical recycling facilities. Click here to download your free copy of the report now.>>

We know firsthand how complicated the topic of chemical recycling is and want to answer any questions that may arise for you as you read the report. Please join us for a free webinar on Tuesday, November 28 at 7:00 PM ET US.

Together with my colleague and report contributor, Jennifer Congdon and report author, Lee Bell of IPEN, we’ll dive into the findings. Register now for the free educational webinar. >>

We’d appreciate any help you can offer to get this new report out into the world and in front of more people’s eyeballs . Please send this report to your members of Congress and state legislators. The chemical industry is pushing hard to promote this risky technology and we need to educate as many elected officials as possible.

Click here for a sharing toolkit you can use or feel free to just use the links below to share it on social media. You can also simply forward this email to your friends and family

• Share on Twitter/X
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Thank you for helping to raise awareness of the threat chemical recycling poses to our climate, our health, our environment, and environmental justice communities across the country while failing to address our mounting plastic pollution crisis.

I hope to see you at the webinar on Tuesday, November 28 and look forward to hearing your feedback on the report then.

Wishing you and yours a happy Halloween today.

Sincerely,

Judith Enck
President, Beyond Plastics
Former US EPA Regional Administrator”

This brief article manages to get to the heart of the problem with plastics and it’s entitled “Oil-Rich Countries Hinder the Global Plastics Treaty”. Here’s the link: https://www.earthday.org/oil-rich-countries-hinder-the-global-plastics-treaty/ . Bottom line, we can’t recycle our way out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves and the planet. As the article states, “Limiting, and eventually ending, plastic production is the only way toward a future free from the chokehold of plastic pollution.”. The article closes by urging you to add your voice to the Global Plastics Treaty petition. You CAN make a difference! Thank you Earthday.org!

A friend of mine recently forwarded to me an article from BeyondPlastics.org. Check it out:

“Taking a page from George Orwell, the U.S. EPA is actually encouraging big companies to turn waste plastics into fossil fuels to be burned through it’s Renewable Fuel Standard program. But there’s absolutely nothing “renewable” about using plastics as fuel.

Please click here now to add your name to Beyond Plastics’ petition calling on the EPA to stop supporting “chemical recycling” and other false solutions to our plastic pollution crisis.

“Chemical recycling” is a polluting false solution to our plastic pollution crisis that’s being aggressively promoted by Big Plastic to enable the industry to continue to produce massive amounts of plastics (and profits).

“Chemical recycling” (also called “advanced recycling”, “molecular recycling”, “waste to fuel”, gasification, or pyrolysis) refers to a suite of processes that use high heat, chemicals or pressure to turn plastic waste into fossil fuels and other feedstocks that are most often burned.

It’s got a lot of names but no matter what you call it, making fuel from plastic is worse in many ways for the climate, our environment, and human health than simply burning fossil fuels.

If you’d like to learn more about this troubling trend at the EPA, I highly recommend reading this eye-opening ProPublica expose on the health and environmental hazards of so-called “chemical recycling”.

So-called “chemical recycling” is highly problematic because it creates toxic emissions and end products, typically uses more energy and emits more greenhouse gases than conventional recycling or even virgin plastic production, it requires huge investments of money and has not yet been proven viable at scale, and it relies on non-existent clean streams of used plastic to work even though the lack of clean used plastics is already a major stumbling block to conventional plastics recycling.

In addition to all of these critical issues, “chemical recycling” does nothing to turn off the plastic tap and would not reduce the demand for virgin plastics. We can’t afford to waste time and money investing in this false solution at the expense of enacting effective, true solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.

I hope you will join us in urging the EPA to stop supporting “chemical recycling” projects through its Renewable Fuel Standard Program and urge the agency to support solutions to our plastic pollution crisis that actually work and are readily available right now, such as eliminating plastic packaging and advancing reuse and refill systems.

Please add your name here then forward this email to your family and friends and urge them to join you in calling on the EPA to change course.

If you are active on social media, you can also like and share this action there using the links below:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Thank you so much for your help.

Cheers,

Judith Enck
President, Beyond Plastics
Former U.S. EPA Regional Administrator”