Create Less Waste:BAN SINGLE USE PLASTICS AND PUBLIC SUBSIDIESFOR POLLUTING INDUSTRIESOnly 9% of plastics ever discarded have been recycled. The maximum recycling level for the currentmix of plastics used is somewhere between 36% and 53% even with the best available recyclingtechnology.42 While activists and policymakers make gains in the renewable energy sector, the fossilfuel industry is looking to plastics as its new frontier. Without major intervention, plastic production willquadruple and comprise 15% of the global carbon budget by 2050.43 Meanwhile, municipalities andtaxpayers bear the cost of collecting, sorting, processing, and transporting an ever-growing volume ofplastic waste. Improving our waste management systems to more effectively recover and repurposematerials is necessary, but downstream strategies must be paired with upstream strategies to reducewaste at the source. Planning for Zero Waste supports climate change mitigation, decreasesenvironmental pressures, improves air quality, and supports local economic development. Public policyinterventions should ban the single use plastics that erode municipalities’ recycling ability.Baltimore’s Fair Development Plan for Zero Waste42
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