Op-Ed: Striving for Plastic-Free Communities in NJ

This article was originally published by NJ Spotlight News on August 9, 2023.

By: Jason Ajiake, Chris Tandazo

Although it’s typically posited as a consumer problem, reducing plastic output is the responsibility of producers — a situation that has a grave impact on environmental justice.

Plastic has become an escalating global crisis that is impossible to ignore. Its presence can be found everywhere, from rivers and oceans to human blood and breast milk. As we collectively confront this mounting challenge, we must acknowledge that plastic pollution affects communities differently, depending on race, socio-economic status, access to health care and ZIP code. Communities most familiar with its direct impacts are often of color and low income. Any solution to address this crisis must be intersectional and recognize the interconnectedness between a plastic-free future and the pursuit of environmental justice. 
 
From the extraction of fossil fuels to the exposure of toxic chemicals and the eventual disposal of plastic waste at incinerators, landfills or the environment, plastics disproportionally expose these environmental justice communities to harmful pollutants. For example, our environmental justice partners in the South and the Gulf Coast are actively fighting against the petrochemical industries sited in their communities. This is where the plastic crisis starts, in places like Cancer Alley in Louisiana, where the presence of petrochemical industries has exposed Black communities to high rates of cancer-related illnesses and deaths. 
 
The current disposal of plastic waste is a continuation of the environmental racism that allows for the siting of incinerators and petrochemical industries in the most overburdened communities throughout the country. Research shows that eight out of 10 incinerators nationwide are located in majority-BIPOC, immigrant and low-income communities. 
 
The plastic crisis arrives at our front door in environmental justice communities like Camden, Rahway and Newark, where plastic waste is burned alongside all other types of waste. New York City alone spends $448 million exporting its waste out of the city. Some of this waste leaves the state and goes to the Covanta incinerator in Newark. Burning plastic waste exposes us to toxic ash and pollutants, increasing the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory-related illnesses — posing a significant threat to frontline communities living near these facilities. 

Recyclable? Not really 

While plastic is promoted as a recyclable material, it cannot be easily recycled due to its toxic chemical composition (particularly single-use plastics). It’s become clear that we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic problem, mainly since less than 6% of plastic in the United States is recycled. As the production of plastic designed for recycling decreases, the generation and disposal of plastic waste increases at incinerators or landfills in environmental justice communities. Major polluters cleverly tout greenwashing terms like “chemical recycling,” “advanced recycling,” “waste-to-energy” and “plastic-to-fuel” as groundbreaking methods for “recycling” and “repurposing”plastic. In reality, they amount to nothing more than disguised forms of waste burning. 
 
Although plastic waste is commonly portrayed as a consumer problem, it’s essential to recognize that reducing plastic output rests in the hands of its producers — and we know that they will not do this on their own. This is why policy intervention and community organizing are necessary to drive change and hold the manufacturers of plastic accountable. 
 
In New Jersey, implementing the Single Use Waste Reduction Act has created a tangible way to encourage reuse practices and reduce the use of plastic bags, polystyrene food containers, paper bags and straws. Since implementation, the number of bags collected on New Jersey beaches has dropped by 37%. Plastic straws also decreased by 39%, and polystyrene takeout containers decreased by 38%, according to a recent Beach Sweeps Report, proving that bans on plastic can be effective at curbing plastic waste. 
 
At the state level, well-written Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws can be a vital tool to significantly reduce the current plastic waste stream and improve recycling goals. EPR laws shift plastic production, consumption, and disposal accountability from the consumer to the plastic producers while also preventing the push of false solutions like chemical recycling. Most recently, California and Colorado passed EPR laws last year. 
 
If not for policy intervention, plastic waste will continue to be incinerated or landfilled in environmental justice communities where these facilities primarily exist. Prioritizing the implementation of policies that hold polluters accountable will pave the way for a sustainable and healthy, waste-free future. In the meantime, the advocacy and organizing required to address the plastic crisis and tackle the deep-rooted environmental racism that has persisted for so many decades continues.