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.

On Tuesday, February 11^th, US Senator Tom Udall and US Representative Alan Lowenthal introduced unprecedented federal legislation to address the plastic pollution crisis.

“The plastic pollution crisis is past the tipping point: our communities, our waterways, and even our bodies are at risk. We are already bearing the cleanup costs of mountains of plastic waste, and it will only get worse for future generations. We have a responsibility to act now before the overwhelming public health, environmental, climate and economic effects of plastic pollution reach the point of no return. Our solutions are not only possible—they are practical and are already being implemented in cities and states across the country, including in my home state of New Mexico. But we need a comprehensive, national strategy to tackle this tidal wave of pollution before it is too late. We must drive the innovation necessary to break free from this unnecessary, toxic waste stream that is also accelerating the destruction of our planet via climate change. This bill calls on all of us, from companies to communities, to address this crisis head-on so that we can create a plastic pollution free world.” – US Senator Tom Udall

In short, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 offers a common-sense, comprehensive systems-based approach to address the plastic pollution crisis. It has tremendous potential to launch our nation’s resources in the right direction— increasing accountability, responsibility, and management efficacy.

Here’s an overview of its key provisions:

Mandating Producer Responsibility

Each time we dispose of packaging materials—whether plastic, paper, glass, or metal—the waste management burden trickles down to local and state governments. In effect, there is a strong disconnect between the design, production, and waste management phases associated with any given product.

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act sets forth requirements for producer responsibility including the development, implementation, and administration of necessary collection and reprocessing programs. This includes co-ops between producers, cleanup efforts through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and investment in recycling and composting infrastructure.

Requiring Nationwide Container Refunds

Incentives are a powerful force for motivating changes in individual and corporate practices. With that in mind, this bill proposes a requirement for customers to be eligible for a 10 cent refund in return for used beverage containers. If unclaimed, the refunds would go back to beverage producers to supplement their investments in collection and recycling infrastructure.

Source Reduction

The bill also sets important benchmarks for changes in production and consumption: “Beginning in January 2022, some of the most common single-use plastic products that pollute our environment, cannot be recycled, and have readily available alternatives will be source reduced and phased out from sale and distribution.”

This will include prohibitions on plastic carryout bags, some food and drink containers, and expanded polystyrene products (also known as Styrofoam).

Additionally, the bill calls for federally-funded studies and literature analysis on plastic tobacco filters, electronic cigarette parts, and derelict fishing gear to guide federal agencies in enacting pollution mitigation policies.

Carryout Bag Fee

What’s more effective than incentives? Disincentives— that’s right! This boils down to a principle of behavioral economics called loss aversion: people dislike losses more than they enjoy benefits.

As a disincentive for consumers to use fewer plastic bags, the bill proposes a fee on carryout bags. The money generated by this fee would be used to fund access to reusable bags, local cleanup efforts, and improved recycling infrastructure. Alternatively, a business could retain the fee if they implement an incentive program that credits customers who opt for bringing their own reusable bags.

Minimum Recycled Content Requirement

With a new wave of investment and research being devoted to recycling infrastructure across the nation, this bill intends to support a growth in the supply of recycled plastic. The minimum recycled content requirement would mandate for beverage containers, such as plastic bottles, to be produced with a certain percentage of recycled content. This threshold would be set to increase overtime so that producers are constantly being encouraged to use less virgin plastic.

The EPA would also be required to implement recycled content minimums for other products, but this is dependent on assessment of technological feasibility by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Recycling and Composting

Conflicting and out-right misleading labels on packaging have made responsible waste management frustratingly inconsistent and demoralizing for most well-meaning consumers. To address this issue, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act calls for the EPA to develop standardized recycling and composting labels for both products and receptacles to encourage proper sorting and disposal.

Encouraging Domestic Responsibility

Every minute, it is estimated that the equivalent of 60 doubledecker busloads of plastic waste are burned or dumped in developing countries. Current rates of mismanagement due to exploitative trade policies pose serious health, safety, and environmental risks beyond our borders. Poorly managed waste serves as a breeding ground for vector-borne diseases, contributes to global climate change, and has even been found to increase rates of violence in urban areas. Conservative estimates attribute over one-million annual deaths to the adverse health effects of these practices.

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act addresses the export of plastic waste, scraps, and pairings to non-OECD countries.

Protecting Existing Action

One of the reasons that this bill is a significant achievement for plastic waste reduction advocates is its unmatched scope. We have never seen a body of federal legislation proposed to directly address the plastic pollution crisis; any existing progress has been the result of market-based changes or efforts from lower levels of government. This Act has the potential to elevate accountability and sustainability in product design, manufacturing, distribution, and waste management in much more comprehensive way.

“We are running out of time to deal with this crisis of our own creation, and this legislation is a bold first step on the path to implementing lasting solutions.”  – US Senator Tom Udall

Although we have not seen any federal action on these issues, state and local governments have already enacted legislation to address the plastic pollution crisis within the bounds of their reach. Many of these local officials have been motivated by a more intimate understanding of the threats posed by single-use plastics on local economies in coastal communities, poor health outcomes for vulnerable populations exposed to their eco-toxic effects, and the substantial contribution of the plastic life cycle to heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. Importantly, this bill protects state and local governments’ previous actions. It also supports their enactment of more stringent standards, requirements, and product bans as deemed appropriate.

Pause New Plastic

Finally, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act provides time for federal agencies to “investigate the cumulative impacts of new and expanded plastic-producing facilities on the air, water, climate, and communities before issuing new permits to increase plastic production.”

To address the impacts of existing producers, this legislation would call for the EPA to update regulations for the elimination of plastic pollution from industrial facilities. It would also encourage updates to the Clean Air and Clean Water Act emission and discharge standards to ensure that plastic-producing facilities integrate the latest technology for pollution prevention.