Keeping Plastics Out of Our Waters

America Recycles Day is a nationally recognized day that celebrates and promotes recycling in the U.S and falls on November 15th. This holiday was created by the National Recycling Coalition in 1997. Every year since then, the President of the United States usually issues a Presidential Proclamation recognizing this day and encourages his fellow Americans to commit to the act of recycling. In 2009, this holiday became an integral part of the Keep America Beautiful Campaign.

The recycling rate has increased from less than 7 percent in 1960 to the current rate of 32 percent. An EPA study found that recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for 681,000 jobs and $37.8 billion in wages.

Why are we talking about Recycling with regard to water resources?  More than 35 million tons of plastics were generated in the United States in 2018, which was about 12 percent of the waste stream. Only 8.7 percent of plastics were recycled in 2018.  Plastic pollution from discarded water bottles, polystyrene coffee cups, grocery bags, and other waste poses a threat to our water supplies and water quality in a variety of ways. Large areas of plastics have accumulated in our oceans, lakes, and other water bodies.

Microplastics have been detected in water around the world, including our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. In these waterways, the microplastics end up in the water we drink and the fish we eat, including shellfish.

It's estimated that roughly 10,000 tons of plastics enter the Great Lakes every year, with higher concentrations in more populated and industrialized areas.

Wildlife is harmed when plastic is tangled in a limb, neck, or other body parts. Wildlife often mistakes plastic for food. Once the plastic is eaten, it cannot be digested and ends up harming the animal by lodging in the gut. Plastic bags also can suffocate animals.

Plastics also leach into the water, degrading the water quality with toxic compounds and end up harming human and animal health.

Discarded plastic bags from our throw-away society end up blocking storm drains and culverts, impeding the flow of water and worsening bank erosion.

Reducing plastic use and waste is pivotal to improving the health of our waterways. Local ordinances and state laws that regulate single-use plastics, like plastic grocery bags, are being proposed and enacted in many locations as part of the effort to reduce plastic use.

You can create new habits to help reduce your plastic use as well and help to protect our waterways. Billions of plastic bags are given out each year. You can bring your own reusable bags with you when you go shopping. You can also switch to reusable drinking bottles, coffee cups, deli containers, straws, sandwich bags, and other items.

When you do use disposable plastic, please know that some items can be recycled. Plastic bottles contain symbols to help people identify the kind of plastic resin used to make the container. This can help you determine if the container can be accepted by your local recycling program. Be sure to check with your local recycling program about recent changes in the materials they accept, there have been some new exclusions in the past few years. Please recycle as many plastic containers as you can.