Page 30 - Plastics News June 2019

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by sessions on sustainability. Industry has been taking a "We see it over and over and over again."
beating in the public's eye—and cities, states and some At the same time, the industry has been fighting state
countries have begun to restrict, ban or regulate certain legislation that seeks to curb plastics pollution, including
plastics. Analysts described all this as one of many risks pushing back on more than 400 bills in dozens of states.
to plastics' economic future. Plastics "is in our air, our "Unfortunately, a lot of those are going to pass," she said.
water, our food, our excrement," said Nina Butler, the
chief executive officer of More Recycling, a research and Fighting legislation is just one front in its battle. Long also
consulting company that works with the plastics industry described the industry's publicity push to get people to
on recycling "It's very, very pervasive." love plastics instead of only worrying about their impact.
The plastics industry She said the industry was lobbying state lawmakers,
has been confronted working to get pro-plastics presentations into schools and
by a robust "anti- developing a website to carry the industry's message and
plastics campaign," give its workers something positive to say about plastics
lamented Patty Long, when they are confronted about their employment. It's a
the interim president problem, she said, when "a 27-year-old might not want to
and chief executive come work" in the plastics industry. In fact, three Millennial
officer of the Plastics generation workers in the plastics industry who spoke at
Industry Association, one session confirmed that some people out of college are
the conferences' other co-host. To illustrate the industry's shunning the industry because of environmental concerns.
challenge, she showed a 2018 National Geographic "We are at the point where we have to show progress and
magazine cover of a plastic bag iceberg in the ocean, an tout our progress" toward sustainability, said Apurva Shah,
image that showed up in other presentations, as well. a young marketing manager for Charter NEX Films.
"If I am going to be honest, I must say it's been pretty Governments Banning Single-Use Plastics
uncomfortable these last six months to a year as we
have watched images of plastic strewn over beaches and The petrochemical industry sees plastics as a long-term
pictures of sea animals with ingested plastic," Long said. growth opportunity. But right now, the industry is feeling
pressure, said Jacqueline
Savitz, a top official with the
environmental group Oceana.
"They realize the public has
warmed up to the problem of
plastics and that is going to
be a real problem for them,"
said Savitz, who was not at
the conference. Just this
week, a study in the American
Chemical Society journal
Environmental Science &
Technology calculated that
the average American ingests
more than 70,000 particles of
microplastics per year, though
the authors said the health
effects of that consumption
were not clear. Politicians
are starting to respond to the
concerns. The United Nations
late last year reported a surge
in plastic bag bans—nearly

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