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THE INTERSECTION OF ZERO WASTE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

The destruction of our planet’s natural resources and the resulting impacts on our climate and environment were not caused by individuals alone, just as the social inequities and injustices of today were not caused by individuals alone. Both issues are systemic and linked to each other, and therefore our approaches to solving them must also be systemic and linked. 

Our Extraction and Production Systems Are Linked to Systemic Inequities

When examining the intersection of social justice and Zero Waste, we need to look at our production system, starting “upstream,” — where we get our resources, as well as how they are processed into materials — and identify who is impacted along the way. Every product we use was made from a natural resource from the earth, which had to be extracted, refined, and transported — a process that disproportionately affects communities of color. 

Plastics, for example, are made from oil and gas, which are extracted through the fracking process. Fracking wells are disproportionately placed in BIPOC neighborhoods, and pipelines are often built on indigenous lands. When these materials are smelted and refined, they cause local air and water pollution, both of which largely affect BIPOC communities. For example, the population of “Cancer Alley” in Louisiana, also known as the Petrochemical Corridor, is almost 50 percent African American. The air pollution created by refineries and factories in this corridor poses a cancer risk 95 percent higher than the rest of the country. Nationally, Black Americans are three times more likely to die from air pollutant exposure than white Americans. 

Our current plastics pollution crisis and its devastating and disproportionate impacts on communities of color and low-income communities are a result of carefully constructed systems designed to create a reliance on plastics. Post-World War II, the plastics industry began pushing single-use plastics as a convenient alternative to reusables and refillables that were then the societal norm. This industry push was overwhelmingly successful. Since the 1950s, nine billion tons of plastic have been made! Yet, only 9 percent of all plastic ever produced has been recycled. The plastics industry has, from the beginning, made a conscious effort to frame littering and waste as a failure on the part of the individual consumer while intentionally ramping up single-use plastic production, all the while knowing that recycling most of their products would never be feasible. 

Plastics are in no way the only culprit. Similar stories with disproportionate impacts on indigenous communities and communities of color can be told for almost every resource we extract and process into a product. 

Inequities Continue Around Consumption and Disposal

People of color in America are far more likely to be negatively affected by the effects of material consumption, but are not the ones with the biggest consumption footprint. A study found that Black and Hispanic Americans "shoulder a ‘pollution burden’ of 56% and 63% more exposure, respectively, than they contribute to.”

The inequities continue when we look “downstream” at how materials are disposed of after they are consumed. Superfund sites, incinerators and landfills are disproportionately built in BIPOC communities. These sites create pollution that correlates with an increase in exposure to toxic waste, respiratory problems, and cancer in nearby communities. More than 50 percent of the 9 million people living near hazardous waste sites are people of color. 

Zero Waste Solutions and Solutions for Equity and Justice

When we redesign our production and consumption systems—by changing policies to require the use of fewer resources, to eliminate single-use disposable products, to make new products out of recovered materials, and to be less toxic — we begin to remove some of the social impacts and inequities of this system. As an advocate, you can help by educating yourself and others on the intersection of social justice and environmentalism, researching the systems you’re a part of, and supporting legislation like Colorado’s Plastic Pollution Reduction Act — which passed a final House vote this week!

COLORADO PASSES THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE PLASTIC REDUCTION LEGISLATION IN STATE HISTORY
The Plastic Pollution Reduction Act Passes House and Senate

On Tuesday, June 8, 2021, House Bill 21-1162 — the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act — passed a final vote in the House by a count of 41–24. With this statewide ban of polystyrene take-out containers and single-use plastic bags, Colorado will become a national leader in tackling the plastic pollution crisis.

The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law, and includes the following provisions:

• A ban on polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) take-out food and beverage containers.
• A ban on single-use plastic carry-out bags (and a fee on paper bags to encourage reusable bags). Small businesses would be exempt from the ban on single-use plastic bags, but the ban would still apply to large grocery and retail stores.
• A strike on a 1989 law that prevents local communities from regulating plastics and managing their own plastic pollution. 

Thanks to representatives Lisa Cutter and Alex Valdez and senators Leroy Garcia and Julie Gonzales for sponsoring the bill, and to all who wrote their legislators in support of a more sustainable future!

Eco-Cycle and Partners Launch Alliance for Mission-Based Recyclers (AMBR) to Advance Systemic Recycling Industry Improvement

Four of the original pioneers of mission-driven, community-based nonprofit recycling in the United States have joined in coalition to launch AMBR, the Alliance of Mission-Based Recyclers.

AMBR enters the current dialogue about the future of recycling as a unified braintrust of seasoned, trustworthy, and transparent voices for reclaiming a struggling national recycling industry from the waste crisis. AMBR is working to guide campaigns, policies, and infrastructure investments to advance credible, transparent, recycling systems that serve as a bridge toward a circular economy and just, resilient, local communities.

AMBR’s founding members are Boulder, Colorado’s Eco-Cycle; Berkeley, California’s Ecology Center; Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Eureka Recycling; and Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Recycle Ann Arbor. Individually, they operate some of the longest-running programs in the nation founded on environmental, community development, and social justice missions.

AMBR’s current first priority is to stem the tide of single-use plastic packaging waste by flipping the common idea that recycling needs to be “fixed” to accept all plastics. Instead, plastic packaging needs to be standardized, reduced, and redesigned. For more information, visit https://ambr-recyclers.org.