Editable-Baltimore's Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste - Flipbook - Page 47
Create Less Waste:
BAN SINGLE USE PLASTICS AND PUBLIC SUBSIDIES
FOR POLLUTING INDUSTRIES
Only 9% of plastics ever discarded have been recycled. The maximum recycling level for the current
mix of plastics used is somewhere between 36% and 53% even with the best available recycling
technology.42 While activists and policymakers make gains in the renewable energy sector, the fossil
fuel industry is looking to plastics as its new frontier. Without major intervention, plastic production will
quadruple and comprise 15% of the global carbon budget by 2050.43 Meanwhile, municipalities and
taxpayers bear the cost of collecting, sorting, processing, and transporting an ever-growing volume of
plastic waste. Improving our waste management systems to more effectively recover and repurpose
materials is necessary, but downstream strategies must be paired with upstream strategies to reduce
waste at the source. Planning for Zero Waste supports climate change mitigation, decreases
environmental pressures, improves air quality, and supports local economic development. Public policy
interventions should ban the single use plastics that erode municipalities’ recycling ability.
Baltimore’s Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste
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