Throughout their noxious life cycle, petrochemical products used to make household plastics inflict persistent harms on human health and the environment. It’s becoming very clear that we need to break free from plastic, so what’s stopping us?

“Research shows that knowledge isn’t the only thing that will change behavior. You usually need much more,” according to Caitie Nigrelli, an environmental social scientist at Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.

Plastics are nearly impossible to avoid, so for those of us strapped for time or cash plastic-free living can easily seem unrealistic. That’s one of the main motivations behind Debris Free Oceans’ Sustainability Consultation program! Individuals, groups, and businesses at all levels need effective and accessible alternatives to successfully phase-out a material that is so embedded in our lives. DFO provides consultation services, free of cost, to facilitate local businesses’ transition away from single-use plastics and towards more sustainable alternatives.

The program was initially developed as a means to assist businesses because, just as the responsibility for addressing this crisis does not all fall on consumers, many small businesses lack the capacity to align their purchasing policies with their values. DFO’s sustainable business consultations are individually tailored to make that connection a reality! In turn, businesses are equipped to contribute to the health and well-being of their communities into their long and fruitful future.

While businesses may reach out to DFO when seeking consultation services, our team often initiates contact with the leadership teams of local ventures that would benefit from this program. Buyers with the ability to use their purchasing power are seeking out more plastic-free alternatives by the day, and businesses need to be ready to play their part!

According to a recent survey of consumers from the US & UK by Globalwebindex:

• More than half of the participants said they’ve started making a conscious choice to use less disposable plastic in the last year.
• 42% of consumers said that recycled and/or sustainable packaging materials are important in their day-to-day shopping.
• In only seven years, the percentage of consumers who are willing to pay more for these alternatives has grown from 47 to 59%.

That said, avoiding plastics is no easy feat for buyers or businesses. There are a host of distracting and misleading products promoted as alternatives. In reality, many of these “greenwashed” materials are still contributing to economic, social, and environmental damages. Ethical small businesses often have the right intentions of creating positive social impact, but are forced to dodge the misinformation that’s out in the markets.

“It’s basically when organizations succumb to the temptation to present a different image from what’s really there,” according to Renee Lertzman, Ph.D., Project Inside Out founder and a psychologist who specializes in the mental toll of climate change. “It’s a particular image or facade that purports to be in alignment with sustainability and climate issues—but it’s not the real deal.”

DFO is proud to play a role in making compostable and reusable products more easily accessible through our virtual tools and one-on-one consultations. Be sure to check out the “Sustainable Business” drop-down menu to browse some of our suggested responsible products, submit your favorite plastic free-alternatives, and plug n’ chug metrics for a quick calculation of how much you could save by swapping reusables for plastics.

At the end of the day, the economic burdens associated with phasing-out plastics should not fall on any one small business or organization. In order for alternatives to truly be more accessible, we need systemic change. DFO targets businesses that are more likely to need cost-free consultation services in order to make the switch, and our work isn’t possible without the support of city and county governments.

“Business practices closely intersect with standards set by law and policy, which is ultimately a reflection of society’s shared values.” – Caiti Waks, Co-Founder and Director of Debris Free Oceans

The public sector (including different levels of government and policy-making bodies) plays an important role in making sustainable business practices more accessible. DFO’s team is proud to be working alongside the City of Miami Beach as they pave the way for municipalities to play an active role in this transition through their #PlasticFreeMB initiative!

In 2019, the DFO team worked with the City of Miami Beach to launch the #PlasticFreeMB Program, which recognizes businesses as they voluntarily progress along a spectrum of plastic-free practices:

• Level 1 Businesses, such as Surfcomber Hotel or Buenos Aires Bakery & Cafe, have phased out plastic straws or plastic bags.
• Level 2 Businesses, such as Ben & Jerry’s or David’s Café Cafecito, have phased out plastic straws, plastic bags, and one of the following eligible items.
• Level 3 Businesses, such as Biscayne Cowboys or the Miami Beach Convention Center, have eliminated all single-use plastic utensils, stirrers, straws, take-out containers, coffee cups, lids, and bags and/or switched over to 100% reusable products.

The timeline of developing, implementing, and enforcing local ordinances is often slow to create change, but this voluntary business recognition program has already created a ripple of positive impact through the promotion of sustainable business practices. In addition to promotional support and access to interactive consultation resources, the #PlasticFreeMB Program includes a unique educational component in which DFO will be working with schools to reach at least three hundred students and leading three community workshops for adults and businesses to learn more about their role in mitigating the plastic pollution crisis. This will be a critical component for the collective shift in purchasing policies and consumer preferences in the City of Miami Beach. We can only truly begin to create change once we achieve a strong shared understanding of the challenges at hand.

Just as each business consultation is unique, so are our partnerships with municipalities. The City of Miami Beach and the DFO team are currently in the process of growing our capacity to extend these working partnerships to more cities and businesses. The City of Miami Beach distributes their #PlasticFreeMB marketing package to cities interested in replicating the program and DFO provides the tools and consultation services to bring the transition to life. During the Summer of 2020, the City of North Bay Village joined in to launch #PlasticFreeNBV!

For more information about our business consultation services, visit our Sustainable Business page. To connect with our team regarding partnerships or the forthcoming Plastic Free Cities initiative, email hello@debrisfreeoceans.org!

Plastic is problematic from cradle to grave: all stages of the life cycle of plastics release pollution and create physical hazards that plague frontline communities with chronic illnesses, negatively impact local economies, and contribute to the decline of our natural environment. Our dependence on plastics for day-to-day tasks has become a characteristic of the modern industrial era, and it may be difficult to imagine a world without so much waste.

That’s why Debris Free Oceans has recently endorsed the #PlasticFreePresident campaign to amplify demands that can help our country to begin the large-scale transition to a circular economy. A circular economy is an economic system that eliminates waste by keeping products and materials in use through innovative design and technology. 

We can transform our extractive, throwaway economy to a regenerative, inclusive one that’s good for our environment and creates quality job opportunities. We need to stop plastic pollution at its source while improving our waste-management systems, developing new business models, phasing out the worst plastic offenders, and shifting to reusable non-plastic alternatives. The federal government needs to be a catalyst for innovation!

Our sustained civic action and participation in the 2020 general election have led to a moment where this type of change is within reach. We’ve elected a President and Vice President who prioritize environmental justice, environmental stewardship, and economic growth through a sustainable economic system. Once in office, President-elect Joe Biden can take action on the following eight demands without Congressional approval. While some have the potential to catalyze immediate changes, others are longer-term measures that will require consensus at all levels of government and consistency from the general public to be most effective.

The #PlasticFreePresident campaign is advancing the following 8 actions for advocates to promote for President-Elect Biden and his administration:

1. Use the purchasing power of the federal government to eliminate single-use plastic items and replace them with reusable products.

There is a long history of consumer activism in the United States (suggested read: Buying Power by Lawrence B. Glickman). The concept of buying or purchasing power refers to the potential for collective shifts in spending patterns to determine the trajectory of the markets. When it comes to plastics, this would look like diverting our hard-earned dollars from low-quality plastic items and favoring longer-lasting, plastic-free reusables. When sufficient consumers make this change, our preferences are amplified and clearer to producers. Companies selling more sustainable products should succeed, and overtime increased demand for their products enables them to scale their operations and reach more consumers. Meanwhile low-quality plastic producers are forced to assimilate more sustainable alternatives or risk suffering losses. This is an indirect way that market forces can change production and consumption norms over the long-term.

The federal government is the single largest purchaser of goods and services in the United States, spending more than $450 billion on products and services each year. That means the government is likely the country’s largest consumer of disposable plastic products.

By reforming their purchasing practices, the federal government could greatly reduce the footprint of plastic waste and bolster demand for plastic-free and reusable goods.

2. Suspend and deny permits for new or expanded plastic production facilities, associated infrastructure projects, and exports.

When we think about the negative effects of plastic production, it’s easy to focus on the end of the plastic life cycle: its contribution to our global waste footprint and potential to end up as marine pollution. However, it is just as important to recognize that every piece of plastic is derived from fossil fuels and emits excess greenhouse gases throughout each phase of its life cycle (suggested read: Plastic & Climate: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet).

In the next 10 years, the petrochemical industry is projected to increase plastics production by at least 35 percent. This includes over 300 new projects slated for territories within the United States. New and expanded facilities produce raw material for single-use plastics using fossil fuels. Because plastics are made from crude oil or fracked natural gas, these bans would curb the impacts of plastic pollution and the climate crisis simultaneously.

3. Make corporate polluters pay and reject false solutions.

Plastic producers must be held accountable for the social, financial, and ecological damage they are causing. The President can hold corporations accountable by supporting legislation such as the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act; calling for investigations on plastic producers, transporters, and manufacturers; and imposing more stringent regulation to minimize disinformation about recycling and product sustainability.

Additionally, the Biden administration can minimize greenwashed, false solutions to the plastic pollution crisis by rejecting funding for projects that ultimately worsen the scope and scale of environmental injustices. Some of these false solutions heavily marketed by the petrochemical industry include: chemical recycling, waste-to-fuel, waste-to-energy, incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, and plasma arc.

4. Advance environmental justice in petrochemical corridors.

Plastic production and refining facilities are often sited near fossil fuel infrastructure. In the United States, these clusters marginalize low-income and racial and ethnic minority communities in the Gulf Coast, Appalachia, and the Ohio River Valley (to name a few).

Fenceline communities are most directly impacted by the air, land, and water pollution released throughout the production of plastics. The #PlasticFreePresident campaign demands that executive agencies conduct their responsibilities transparently and facilitate spaces for historically excluded individuals living in fenceline communities to contribute meaningfully in petrochemical permitting decisions.

In order to advance a transition away from the petrochemical and fossil fuel industries, executive actions will be critical. The President can direct federal agencies to collect more data on environmental quality and the health of affected communities, develop mechanisms to increase investment in their local economies, and call for investigations on violations of their rights to sovereignty, dignity, and quality of life.

5. Update existing federal regulations to curtail pollution from plastics facilities by using the best available science and technology.

The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. This federal agency is required to ensure that our nation’s air, water, land, wildlife and human life are not harmed by industry activities. However, the EPA is not as effective in curbing the effects of advancing industrial processes when its standards are not updated. Public health and the natural environment are increasingly harmed by their reliance on standards that are growing decades old. The President has an important responsibility to direct the EPA to update its performance standards, regulatory guidelines, and research agenda.

6. Stop subsidizing plastic producers.

For most of our nation’s history, the federal government has subsidized the fossil fuel industry. In 2020, the United States provided more unconditional financial support to the fossil fuel sector than any other G20 country has provided to all energy sectors combined (suggested read: The Climate Transparency Report 2020). It’s time to stop the flow of federal funds to the petrochemical industry and the fossil fuel industry (which supplies the inputs for plastic production). These funds can be redirected to advance innovation in sustainable waste management and support the growth of reusable plastic-free alternatives.

7. Join international efforts to address the global plastic pollution crisis through new and strengthened multilateral agreements.

The United States’ extractive and wasteful economy does not exist in a bubble. Our actions have a direct effect on the global economy and an indirect effect on the decisions made by other countries. For many years, the United States has been counterproductive in others’ efforts to address the global plastic crisis. It is time for the U.S. to become an active champion of circular economics, encourage our allies to address the global plastic crisis, and begin targeting global patterns of production, consumption, and disposal. This can be achieved by forging legally-binding agreements with other major players in the production and waste management of plastics. Cooperative action can be a powerful agent in bringing justice to the low-to-middle income groups that have been marginalized by the life cycle of plastics beyond our borders.

8. Reduce and mitigate the impacts of discarded and lost fishing gear.

Some of the most dangerous hazards posed by marine debris come from lost or discarded fishing gear in the open ocean. This includes gill nets, traps, and heavy metal equipment that change the biochemical composition of the marine environment, entangle and kill marine organisms, impede navigation, introduce toxic chemicals into the food web, and impose massive cleanup costs for coastal communities. The President can work with other federal agencies to mandate more stringent reporting, monitoring, and retrieval projects to recover lost materials. There are many unique, innovative solutions that can be employed generate new products from the materials that are recovered. One example is Netplus, an alternative to virgin fibers that’s made of recovered fishing nets. They’ve worked with 50 fisheries in South America and collected over 2.6 million pounds of discarded material to date!

In 2021, we will urge President Biden to take these actions during his first year in office so that we may collectively build a safer, healthier, and more equitable society. We urge you to learn more about the power of having an actively plastic-free president and join us in this advocacy throughout the coming year!

It doesn’t have to be Election Day to harness the power of civic engagement! Here are some activities you can participate in year-round to organize and advocate in your community:

Volunteerism: Research suggests that young people who volunteer in their communities are more likely to vote and feel empowered as citizens. One study found that volunteers become emotionally connected to the communities they serve. Their sustained involvement may even translate to future economic growth (Promoting Student Engagement).

Volunteering has been found to help people of all ages to develop skills for professional success and build personal confidence. Engaged community leaders quickly gain a better understanding of the complex inner-workings of society and build skills to promote well-being for their communities.

The United Nations has credited volunteerism as a requirement for better governance at the local and national level. In fact, it’s considered a necessary first step for achievement of the international Sustainable Development Goals!

Community Involvement: Many studies have supported collaborative problem-solving and diversity in decision-making as important for stepping stones for positive impact. Joining a grassroots organization, participating in mutual aid, or creating partnerships between different groups can all contribute to fostering more collaboration and diversity in our community’s advocacy efforts.

To support plastic pollution reduction, we suggest that you engage with organizations that are advancing this agenda through social (beach cleanups, recreational events) and political (issue advocacy, lobbying) methods. Some excellent organizations that we work alongside are Miami Waterkeeper and Oceana!

Electoral Participation: This Tuesday, March 17th is the day to cast your vote in the 2020 Democratic Primary elections. If you are well and able, we urge you to cast your ballot for the candidate you feel is best fit to lead our nation!

You can advocate for electoral participation by: wearing buttons, using campaign stickers or signs, sharing information about how to reach nearby polling places, volunteering for an issue advocacy organization, working with a campaign, phone banking to help eligible voters register, or volunteering at your nearest polling location.

Political Voice: When it isn’t election season, you can work towards building a stronger relationship with your elected officials. Engaging with those in office is crucial to holding public officials accountable to their community’s needs. You can contact them directly via email, visit a district office, or schedule a call with one of their staffers to speak about an issue or upcoming bill that is important to you.

You can also draft a blog post or op-ed on an issue that you feel strongly about to build more awareness in your community. Local journalists may be inspired by your contributions to increase coverage on an issue that would have otherwise been overlooked.

For many proposed bills and regulations, there are open windows for public comment where citizens can respond to specific proposals. This is a great way to directly contribute to the policy-making process, and it’s a great opportunity to learn more about policy alternatives that may be implemented to address an issue that you care about. That said, you won’t have the opportunity to provide a comment for a particular issue if nothing has been proposed to address it. This reinforces the importance of electing public officials who are in-tune with their constituencies and willing to build action-oriented relationships with advocates throughout their terms of office.

Digital Communications: We are living in unprecedented times—with limitless access to information and the ability to share our opinions with a massive audience at any moment. The internet has become a major avenue for social interaction and can be used as a tool for advocacy beyond our local communities. We encourage you to use this resource responsibly by sharing information from reputable sources and exposing yourself to diverse perspectives. Please be cognizant of the potential to be misled by misinformation and disinformation.

You can use social media and digital campaigns to advocate for issues that you care about and support candidates during electoral cycles. Digital communications, including social media and video calls, may also be a more accessible entry point for you to engage with elected officials that represent you.

Online advocacy is great for awareness-building and mobilization around our shared social struggles, but it’s not an equal replacement for electoral participation. Posting an informative graphic or re-sharing a statement by a preferred candidate does not have the same effect as voting for that candidate or issue area.

The right to vote is a great power and privilege that not all people are afforded. If you’re reading this during an election cycle, join us in supporting GOTV efforts! Sharing information with your online community can also be used to mobilize individuals towards actions. Consider re-sharing tips for folks to find their local polling place, obtain a vote-by-mail or absentee ballot, and join phone banking events for candidates they support.