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Five Plastic Products We Should Ban Now to Eliminate 1.4M Tons of Plastic

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Nicholas Vincent is a passionate environmentalist and freelance writer. He is deeply committed to promoting... Read More

As the clock ticks towards Plastic-Free July, the Ocean Conservancy is blazing a trail to healthier, plastic-free beaches. The release of their report “Charting a Course to Plastic Free Beaches,” paints a compelling picture of our plastic predicament using 40 years of beach cleanup data from the International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC).

Source: Plastic Free July Official/YouTube

The report spotlights five prime offenders in the plastic pollution crisis – plastic foam food ware, bags, utensils, straws, and cigarette butt filters – urging for effective source reduction policies such as bans. “This report paves a clear path of action to transform the dream of plastic-free beaches into a reality,” says Nicholas Mallos, Vice President of Ocean Plastics at Ocean Conservancy. “And the first step is straightforward – take these worst offenders off the shelves.”

Based on the painstaking efforts of ICC volunteers since 1986, the report argues that banning these top five villains across the U.S. would decrease plastic usage by approximately 450 billion pieces annually. This equates to eliminating around 1.4 million tons of plastics domestically or averting the use of roughly 1,000 single-use plastic products per person annually. Beyond marine Conservation, this change would also significantly counter Climate change by curbing CO2e emissions by about 7 million metric tons per year, akin to taking 1.5 million cars off the road annually.

Dr. Anja Brandon, associate director of U.S. plastics policy at Ocean Conservancy, states, “Eliminating these items would not only bring an immediate positive impact on our beaches and waterways but also boost recycling by removing common non-recyclable items from our waste stream.”

With an impressive history since 1986, ICC volunteers have gathered 350 million pounds of trash and recorded over 381 million items from global beaches and waterways. The power of this collected data has been pivotal in supporting policies against single-use plastics, influencing scientists, policymakers, and journalists, and aiding our understanding of the global plastic Pollution crisis.

Ocean Conservancy’s data have played a key role in significant policies, like Illinois’ ban on foam food ware and Hawaii’s proposed plastic bottle ban. Further demonstrating the effectiveness of their efforts, Laguna Beach recently passed a balloon ban.

Ready to take a stand against plastic Pollution? Get involved in this year’s International Coastal Cleanup happening throughout September. For more information and to register, visit signuptocleanup.org. Let’s help chart that course to cleaner beaches and healthier oceans!