Ban Plastic, Don't Burn It!

JUNE 9, 2021 UPDATE

On June 7, the Maine State Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources issued a divided report with a majority recommending that this bill should NOT pass.

On June 8, the House accepted the recommendation that the bill should not pass. On June 9, the Senate concurred and the bill died.

Win!! 

While LD359 will not pass this session, the fight is far from over.

There is BIG MONEY behind perpetuating the toxic fracking, fossil fuel, and petrochemical industries that profit while poisoning us, including by increasing and maintaining plastic production.

We know that the REAL solution to plastic pollution is to stop making plastic, not to burn it after production, and not to bury it. There is no magical “away” place that plastics can go to die—it is with us and IN us, forever. Burning plastic is a false “solution.”

It's beyond time to say NO WAY to plastics and to keep fighting bills like LD359 everywhere and anywhere that they pop up, while actively working to ban single-use plastic and packaging and doing our own parts to reduce plastic consumption! 

THANK YOU to all who helped support this effort, and to all those interested in engaging in Maine or learning more… give a shout! 

HISTORIC ACCOUNT

We submitted testimony in opposition to LD359, an act to promote energy production from recyclable plastics,[1] ahead of the public hearing before the Maine State Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on May 10, 2021.

Waste-to-energy projects focusing on burning plastics are a false solution to our plastic pollution problem and clean energy needs. Incinerators emit more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity (2988 lbs/MWh) than coal-fired power plants (2249 lbs/MWh).[2]

Incineration of plastic creates significant greenhouse gases, suffered disproportionately around the world by communities of color and low-income communities,[3] while plastic left to degrade in the environment over thousands of years continues to release greenhouse gases. The only solution to plastic pollution is to stop making so much plastic in the first place.

LD359 would hinder our ability to advance toward a clean energy future in Maine and would further perpetuate and maintain plastic pollution by enabling plastics producers to continue churning out products that cannot be refilled or reused.

Why continue to enable wasteful industry production that poisons our land, air, waters, bodies, and planet with toxic plastics rather than demand a shift away from plastic production?

The burden should not be the State’s to find a use for discarded plastic waste; the burden should be on the producers to stop making wasteful plastic products, which is why we're BIG TIME supporters of the real solutions of source reduction, like LD602 to get rid of single-use plastic straws, and bills like LD1541, to launch a program to reduce plastic pollution and improve recycling through extended producer responsibility for packaging.

Engage with us on the real solutions by giving a shout!

For the complete low-down on why burning plastics and other trash is a wicked bad idea, check out the robust research from our buds at GAIA.