FEMCARE
Plastic pollution fact: Single-use plastic wrappers and applicators cannot be recycled and end up in landfills. For years, organizations like Women’s Voices for the Earth have campaigned for disclosure of the risks posed by the presence of petrochemical components in feminine hygiene products. The organization won a huge victory in 2015, when two of the largest feminine care manufacturers—Procter and Gamble and Kimberly Clark—agreed to disclose ingredients in pads and tampons.
BALLOONS
Plastic pollution fact: Whether latex or mylar, balloons blow away, burst, deflate and return to pollute the planet. These products made our BAN List 2.0 as some of the world's worst plastic items — from both an environmental and toxic chemicals perspective.
CIGARETTE BUTTS
Plastic pollution fact: Made of non-biodegradable cellulose acetate — a type of plastic — cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic litter found on beaches worldwide. Once littered they leach toxic chemicals — including acetic acid, hexamine, arsenic, and chromium — into our water table, where these chemicals can remain for as many as 10 years and can be poisonous to the fish and wildlife that ingest them.
PLASTIC & CLIMATE CHANGE
Plastic pollution fact: 99% of plastic comes from fossil fuels. Currently, one of the most inexpensive ways to make plastic is through “cracking.” When land is fracked to produce fossil fuels, ethane gas is produced as a byproduct. Cracking plants — also known as “crackers”— convert ethane to ethylene, which is used to make polyethylene plastic. Plastic production is projected to triple by 2050.
PLASTIC POLLUTION FACTS
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