Plastic is everywhere — wrapped around our food, stitched into our clothes, even coursing through our veins. What began as a marvel of modern science has become a toxic industry that is harming our health, polluting our planet, and driving climate change. According to a recent report in The Lancet, the world faces a plastics crisis that causes disease and death from infancy to old age and covers the planet with 8 billion tons of plastic waste. Without bold new laws, these problems will only worsen. Plastic production has increased exponentially since single-use plastic’s start, from 2 million tons per year in 1950 to 450 million tons per year today. And production is expected to triple by 2060. With less than 6% of plastic recycled in the United States, that plastic will continue to harm us, our communities, and our environment.
The good news is there’s still time to turn off the tap and live in a world without pointless plastic. That’s the hopeful message at the heart of the new book, “The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late,” by Judith Enck with Adam Mahoney, published by The New Press.
The plastic pollution crisis is massive, systemic, and urgent. But “The Problem with Plastic” offers hope: collectively, we have the power and influence to effectively slow plastic production. Plastic pollution isn't inevitable; it results from choices made by businesses, governments, and, to a lesser extent, everyday people. By equipping people with knowledge, hope, and a range of solutions, we can put people and the planet before plastic and save ourselves while there’s still time.
Judith Enck is the founder and president of Beyond Plastics, whose mission is to end plastic pollution everywhere. President Obama appointed her as a regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2009, and she served as deputy secretary for the environment in the New York Governor’s Office. Enck is currently a professor at Bennington College.