It All Comes Back To Us

plastic cutlery arranged to send an important message to humans
A message from humans who care about the planet, by Volodymyr Hryshchenko, 2020, Unsplash.

It is no secret that our food system churns out tons of plastic waste, most of which is associated with packaging. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) (2019) estimates that approximately 14.5 million tons of plastic containers and packaging were generated in 2017, and this makes up 5.3 percent of the country’s municipal solid waste generated for the year. Meanwhile, this data also excludes disposable tableware such as plastic cutlery, bowls, and plates, so this problem is in fact much greater than what the data suggests. Plastic pollution is pervasive on our planet, and it will only get worse if we do not make changes to our habits of consumption and waste disposal.

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