Cascade Alliance

 How Can I Help Reduce Plastic Waste? 

This week we want to touch on plastic waste, as it is a problem universally. Here are some of our favorite groups working to reduce plastic waste this week:

• Alaska Airlines recently announced their #FillBeforeYouFly initiative to partner with employees and guests to promote reducing the use of single-use plastics inflight. Their goal is to encourage flyers to bring their own water bottle and fill it before they board.  This is just one of Alaska Airlines efforts to reduce inflight waste by 70% by 2020.
• Air France has pledged to eliminate 210 million pieces of plastic used on flights by the end of this year.
• May 2019 the City of Eugene voted to limit the availability of straws, utensils, stirrers, condiment packets, and other single-use items where food is sold.
• In November 2016, California voters approved a statewide Single-Use carryout bag ban.

Plastic bottles are one of the top 5 most common items found in beach cleanups around the world.  According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the ocean is expected to contain 1 metric ton of plastic for every 3 metric tons of fish by 2025. Plastic is a problem because it’s not always recyclable and a large amount of our plastic waste ends up in the oceans, so it is always encouraging to see businesses and cities step up to help reduce waste.

Interested in learning more about businesses you might interact with that are reducing their waste impact?  Check out this article here.