And What Is The United States Doing About Plastic Pollution?

Today is the second day of the International Summit on Plastic Pollution (https://liu.edu/plastic-pollution-summit).  Yesterday, I shared a bit about what conference participants are learning about how France is comprehensively attacking the scourge of plastic pollution by prohibiting many uses of plastics, among other things.  Today, a few words on what is, and is not, happening in the United States.

A handful of states and municipalities have taken a play out of the European playbook, banning certain uses of plastics. California was the first state to impose a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at large retail stores and it has expanded that ban to restrict the commercial use of plastic utensils, straws, and stirrers.  New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington have followed suit with restrictions of their own.  Over two hundred municipalities have enacted similar restrictions.