Actions in Maryland, the US and across the World.
Successes in Maryland create action elsewhere and vice versa.
We learn so much from the hard work and innovation by others! This week, as we come even closer to Giving Tuesday 2022, we look at actions across our state, country and the globe!
Extended Producer Responsibility
Did You Know…Maine, Oregon, California, and Colorado have passed an extended producer responsibility policy for packaging and are implementing it right now as we speak.
Every province in Canada has enacted a producer responsibility policy shifting responsibility for decreasing packaging that becomes waste from taxpayers to those who produce it.
Many countries use extended producer responsibility to reduce their packaging waste.
Packaging waste makes up 28% of trash in the United States and 40% of plastic waste globally.
Map by Data Sort: Worldwide Expansion of Packaging EPR and Lorax
Reusable Grocery Bags
Did You Know ...
Two large counties, Baltimore City and four towns across Maryland have laws encouraging shoppers to use reusable grocery bags.
Displayed: Montgomery County, Howard County, Baltimore City, Takoma Park, Easton, Chestertown, and Westminster
Eight states -- California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon, and Vermont —ban single-use plastic bags.
Seventy seven countries have a full or partial ban on plastic bags. Thirty-two of those charge a fee to limit plastic bag use.
Facts.
Plastic was first developed in the 1800s and became popular during WW2 as a substitute for scarce natural resources needed for military success. After the war, manufactures invested heavily in developing and advertising new "disposable" products that could easily be "thrown away."
Now?
400 million tons of plastic are produced every year.
10% of all plastic ever created has been recycled.
5 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year.
Momentum
Across the globe, people like you and organizations like Trash Free Maryland are innovating and figuring out new ways to reduce our growing trash problem.
That's the thinking behind an Ellen MacArthur Foundation initiative inviting designers and materials scientists to reinvent types of packaging that are almost never collected and recycled, and end up in landfill, incinerators or as trash in our environment.
Lots of research about smart sensors in trash cans is underway to optimize the process of waste collection to increase collection rates and reduce downstream costs is underway.
Closer to home, our own Towson University received Honorable Mention in a national Campus Race to Zero Waste Case Study Competition for their efforts to host social media education and awareness campaigns focused on waste reduction and avoidance best practices! Way to go Tigers.
The possibilities seem limitless. Together, we can do this!
Over the coming two Tuesdays we plan to share more about our work in hopes of earning your support for Giving Tuesday 2022!
