Philly Talks Trash June 2023

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the second Philly Talks Trash Quarterly Newsletter. We hope that you found our first newsletter interesting and full of useful information concerning plastics and waste.

Prior to the newsletter we presented a series of virtual programs on waste. If you missed any of these, you can view them on the Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks channel. Be sure to click the Philly Talks Trash Playlist.

The fires burning in Canada which have sent plumes of smoke southward and made our air hazardous, only emphasize the importance of cutting our waste, most of which is fossil fuel derived. Plastics play a large part in the cause of the climate crisis and weaning ourselves off our overuse of them will help achieve climate goals. Each new weather disaster shows us that our future must be one where we do not treat our air, land and bodies of water as waste receptacles, and Philadelphians can play an important role in achieving that end. Our newsletters highlight the politics of waste from the local to the international level, list meetings and events happening locally, and provide zero-waste resources and ideas to cut our individual waste footprints. We feature a guest writer each quarterly, and this month we have an introduction to newly proposed plastic legislation from Circular Philly written by Nic Esposito, with calls to action for those who would like to participate. We can achieve our goals if we work together.

🖋️ From Our Guest Author:
Nic Esposito

Circular Philadelphia is proud to announce the release of our policy paper Single Use Plastic Legislation for Philadelphia: A Policy Guide. This is a comprehensive, yet digestible, well-researched paper on how to achieve single-use plastic reductions through legislation. In short, it makes the case for the why, and lays out clear guidance on how, to achieve this major goal.

After working to change Philadelphia Health Department regulations to allow for the use of reusable food containers in food establishments, Circular Philadelphia, its members, and partners got to work first to develop this legislative concept that follows three primary steps.

Step 1: Ban Certain Single-Use Plastics for Take-Out Food: Borrowing from other examples around the country, we identified materials such as styrofoam as a prime candidate to completely ban.

Step 2: Encourage a Shift to Reusable Containers by Imposing a Fee on Continued Use of Single-Use Plastics for Take-Out Food: We recognize that not every food establishment is going to be able to make this change over night, however, due to the high costs of cleaning up single use plastic litter and managing waste, we also recognize the need for businesses that are contributing to this problem to invest in the solution.

Step 3: Reinvest Fee Proceeds to Clean Up Philly and Create a Transition Fund: And when we say “invest in this solution” we don’t mean theoretically. We are calling for the funding from these fees to be reinvested back into helping the very businesses paying these fees to wean off of single use plastic and improve their businesses and our city.

But the road to legislation is a long one. We need to all work together to get this passed and implemented. We are asking everyone’s help to do three things to make this legislation a successful reality.

1. Please read our Circular Philadelphia policy page and review our policy paper to let us know if we are missing anything as well as to let us know if you’d like to take part in any advocacy for this legislation (you can use this form).
2. If this legislative concept appeals to you, please contact your elected officials to let them know that they should pay attention to it. We have a brand new mayoral administration and city council taking office in 2024 and we would like to see this legislation as an early priority.
3. In the short term, please also appeal to legislators to work with the Commerce Department to develop funding ideas to start weaning Philadelphia businesses, especially under-resourced ones, off of single use plastics. We recognize that fees can be burdensome for businesses and that there are many businesses that want to stop using single use plastic but can’t afford to. Even if this legislation is successful, we don’t need to wait until the fee funding is in the bank. City government can start allocating money now to help businesses transition to more sustainable options.

Whether you run a food business, advocate for the environment, or simply want better options as a consumer, we need to make our voices heard on the issue of single use plastics. And the team at Circular Philadelphia is pleased to present this policy platform as a way to amplify our voices. Please join in this important work to rid Philly of this large source of single use plastics.

To find the full paper and other resources such as sample language for approaching lawmakers, please visit the Circular Philadelphia Single Use Plastic Legislation Policy Page.

🗳️ Politics and Legislation

Before Philadelphia’s new Mayor and City Council members come into office January 2024, the “bring your own bag” legislation introduced by Councilmember Mark Squilla needs to be heard and acted on. Designed to improve the City’s plastic bag ban, which went into effect July 1, 2021, Squilla’s bill will amend the plastic bag ban, adding a minimum 15-cent fee and eliminating confusing language. Call your Councilmember to support this bill.

Recent activity in the PA Senate includes the passage of Senate Bill 691 to change the name of the PA Dept of Environmental Protection to the PA Dept of Environmental Services. What an obvious bow to corporate interests and what a revealing response to environmental legislation alive in the PA House. See the following:

Legislation has been introduced in the PA House calling for the establishment of a Plastic Pollution Task Force in the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection. HB 1001, introduced by Rep. Chris Rabb and others, has been referred to the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, where hopefully it will be addressed.

The same House Committee passed a bill in early June requiring an environmental impact statement for the building of certain kinds of facilities in Environmental Justice communities. HB 652, sponsored by Philadelphia Democrats Donna Bullock, Malcolm Kenyatta, and Chris Rabb, takes a huge step in valuing health over economics. It still has to come to the floor for a vote.

📅 Events 📝

Click on the calendar icons below to add events to your Google calendar

📅 June 20th – 22nd: PlasticsFuture 2023 Conference • PlasticsFuture 2023 is a mission-driven conference which aims to inspire new solutions to end plastic pollution. It will be an opportunity to share global research and innovation across disciplines and communities, and forge future collaborations. Held at the Portland Building at the University of Portsmouth, the conference will be split into five sessions, delivered over three days. Organizers encourage everyone to attend all sessions, to gain a broad understanding of the plastics problem and possible mitigations. Sessions will consist of invited short talks, posters, round-table discussions and workshops. The conference program will also include installations, film screenings, exhibitions and performances.

📅 July 12th: Plastics & The Future Of Our Planet: A Conversation With Bill McKibben and Elizabeth Kolbert • Join us for an eye-opening conversation about plastic and the future of our planet with environmental leader and author, Bill McKibben and Pullitzer Prize-winning journalist, Elizabeth Kolbert, moderated by Beyond Plastics president Judith Enck.

📅 Sep 13th – 29th: Science Summit at the United Nations General Assembly • ISC and its partners will organise the 9th edition of the Science Summit around the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78) on 13-29 September 2023. The role and contribution of science to attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be the central theme of the Summit. The objective is to develop and launch science collaborations to demonstrate global science mechanisms and activities to support the attainment of the UN SDGs, Agenda 2030 and Local2030. The meeting will also prepare input for the United Nations Summit of the Future, which will take place during UNGA78 beginning on 12 September 2023.

📅 On-going: Planet Philadelphia radio show • Planet Philadelphia can be heard live the first and third Fridays of each month from 4 to 5 pm at Gtownradio.com (92.9) or anytime on the website archive. Co-producers and hosts Kay Wood and Linda Rosenwein interview experts on environmental issues and related science and technology ranging from hyper-local to global.

📅 On-going: ecoWURD • Charles Ellison, well-known thought leader and commentator both in Philadelphia and nationally, is the Host/Executive Producer of “Reality Check,” a daily public affairs program, and Managing Editor of ecoWURD, a multimedia environmental justice journalism initiative examining Black communities at the intersection of race, health, income & the environment. You can listen to ecoWURD every Friday, 10 a.m. at 96.1 FM.

🌐 Plastic-reduction Resources 🤝🏽

The problems we face with plastic proliferation are great, but an ever-growing group of organizations, laws, and policies are taking aim at the issue, and small businesses are looking to meet the need for products without plastics. The Philly Talks Trash Resource Page is an expanding collection of waste-reduction information, politics, articles, products, and organizations, all focused on reducing plastic use. If you have suggestions for the page please email us. We will highlight a few products and organizations in each newsletter and the link to the full and growing list will always be available at bit.ly/pttq.

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