Organizing for Plastic Alternatives (OPA)

April 18, 2024 International Delegates Meet in Ottawa to Advance Global Plastics Treaty Ottawa will be the site of Round 4 of  international negotiations facilitated by the United Nations Environmental Programme. Participants in the treaty negotiations are aiming for the end of the year to have a legally-binding agreement in place that would addressing the growing problem of plastics.  All stages of plastic are harmful to humans and the environment from 1) extraction of fossil fuels, 2) production of plastics, 3) distribution and use of plastics, 4) disposal of plastics, and 5) long-term disintegration of plastics.  Plastics have been sold to us as a modern convenience. Indeed they are. But the human and environmental costs to us are enormous. We are gaining more and more information about the immensity of the problem and its impacts on the environment and human health every day. An international treaty along with strong national legislation that begins to restrict plast...

 Vast Matjority of Waste in the Great Lakes is Plastic - Millions of Pounds Every Year A new report presents troubling findings: 85% of the waste in our Great Lakes (tens of millions of pounds every single year) is plastic: https://twitter.com/A4GL/status/1778414722162806795/photo/1 . Confirmation of this reality is yet another indication that plastic, particularly single use plastics, is an enormous problem where the United States is responsible for 45% of worldwide production, distribution, and use of plastics even though Americans constitute only 4% of the world's population.  Plastics have huge human health and environmental implications that disproportionately impact environmental justice communities. But all of the plastic waste impacts every single corner of the globe. We are all impacted.  This blog explores the problem of single use plastics and equips you with information, tools, and resources to understand and act on this problem.  This blog is brought to ...