Thursday, June 15, 2023
Chair Rausch, Chair Cahill, and members of the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources:
My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I’m the policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide, member-based grassroots advocacy organization fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic Commonwealth.
We urge you to give a favorable report to H.882/S.570: An Act to reduce plastics (The Plastics Reduction Act), filed by Rep. Ted Philips and Sen. Becca Rausch.
Many of us are familiar with the mantra “reduce, reuse, recycle.” We too often focus on the third command and ignore the first. Indeed, when it comes to plastics, a focus on reduction is vital, not simply because “reduce” should always be the first part of the hierarchy, but because plastics recycling lacks the success of paper (especially cardboard) and metal recycling, where clear markets for repurposing materials exist. Many plastic items put into recycling bins end up in landfills because of such a lack. I personally own a number of shirts that are made from polyester from recycled plastic, but that is a niche market. Melting down and recomposing plastic is expensive, and plastic degrades each time it is used.
Moreover, as plastic is a petroleum-based product, we need to wean ourselves off it—and do so quickly—if we are to meet climate goals. Fossil fuels need to be left in the ground, not dug up to be turned into products that end up buried under the ground in landfills.
These bills take a comprehensive approach. They would enact a statewide plastic bag ban: more than two-thirds of our state’s population live in municipalities where such a ban already exists, and we are the only Northeastern state other than New Hampshire not to have passed a statewide law yet. To ensure that people in environmental justice communities who already bear the burden of pollution do not face undue burden from a new fee on paper bags, the bill would create a fund to cover the costs of reusable bags in such communities. The bill would limit disposable food service packaging (bowls, plates, cuts, cartons, straws, etc.) to biodegradable or compostable products; limit the sale and public purchasing of smaller plastic water bottles; and take other important steps.
When we keep our parks, streets, and rivers clean; reduce the trash that goes into landfills that leak methane and pollute groundwater; and leave fossil fuels in the ground, we all benefit.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Cohn
Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts
