(Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 21, 2022) – Eleven million metric tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year. This World Oceans Month, we need to take action to ensure plastic materials do not have negative impacts on human health or the environment. In fact, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) public opinion research found that 86% of Americans want the U.S. to emphasize reuse and recycling, and 53% believe that the companies producing plastic need to help pay for a recycling system, a 6% increase since last year.

There is a lot of work to do to solve our plastic waste crisis. To help facilitate this process, WWF launched OneSource Coalition, a group of companies, environmental organizations, and industry leaders paving the path for a future where plastic waste is responsibly managed.

The Coalition focuses on three key areas: environmental justice, extended producer responsibility (EPR) and international leadership. Producers of plastic need to be responsible for the packaging they create and make it easy to recycle. Consumers need to be enabled to streamline waste management, simply put, to do more with less packaging.

Global leaders already came together to take action on plastic by agreeing to develop a UN treaty on plastic pollution by 2024. Now U.S. policymakers need to take action at home. New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Washington, and Maine have already taken action on EPR proposals.

ABOUT ANTHONY TUSINO

Anthony is a senior program officer for plastic policy advocacy at WWF, focusing primarily on pathways to mitigate plastic pollution, incentivize the use of recycled materials and ensure protections for local communities and environments. Anthony serves on the steering committee of the US Plastics Pact and co-leads the Pact’s policy workstream. Anthony also leads OneSource Coalition. He earned his Master’s in Political Management, Graduate School of Political Management and Bachelor’s in Political Science, both from The George Washington University.