Posted on 4/22/2024 by Stephanie
On April 22, 1970 we celebrated the first annual Earth Day celebration. Stop in at your local Stewart’s Shop for a free coffee on Earth Day in your BYO refillable drink container to celebrate.
Reducing plastics is Earth Day’s urgent 2024 theme. This week marks the start of a United Nations conference on plastics. Representatives from 180 nations will be meeting in Ottawa, Canada, to devise a global agreement on reducing plastic waste.
Sarah Davies, director of media and communications for the Washington, D.C based EarthDay.org, highlighted the importance of focusing people’s attention on plastics this year. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling vortex of non degradable plastic refuse that spans much of the Pacific Ocean highlights the extent of waste that is disposed of daily around the world. Microplastic fragments are endangering our health.
Closer to home, Judith Enck, former regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator and co-founder of Beyond Plastics, loves this year’s Earth Day theme, and is continuing to push the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (S4246B) to reduce the amount of plastic packaging in our day-to-day commerce. Judith Enck said they hope to move the measure forward after the state’s 2024-2025 budget is finalized. “Festivals (for Earth Day) are nice but when it comes to plastic we need new laws” said Enck.
JOIN US ON MAY 14TH IN ALBANY
Members of Zero Waste Columbia were among the hundreds that rallied in Albany at the State Capitol to lobby legislators on the first NY is Not DISPOSABLE Lobby Day on February 27. And we are ready to do it again on May 14th!