![]() ![]() “Now we’re at the point where the tail is wagging the dog,” he continued. “The growth of plastics was a way for the fossil fuel industry to find value in what had been an industrial byproduct. They were drilling for oil, and plastics became a byproduct. “They realized that the chemicals that came from the fossil fuel refinement process could be turned into plastics, which are among the most flexible chemical compounds out there,” Rhodes said. The plastics industry emerged after World War II as the oil industry sought uses for the byproducts of the process of refining crude oil into gasoline and other fuels. A Providence-based attorney who has been working on plastics reduction initiatives around the country for the last decade, he said that consumer product manufacturers and those who use plastic for packaging and shipping have no incentive to reduce their use of plastics because it costs so little and its creation is subsidized by the oil industry. They greenwash the ability to recycle and reuse, knowing full well that only a small portion actually gets recycled or reused.” “It’s a very intentional industry push to create a throw-away world so the industry has a use for its products. “Our throw-away society wasn’t created by accident,” she added. And in the context of climate change, plastics are made by fossil fuels, which we are trying to transition away from. “The global focus on plastics in the oceans and the attention it has received through social media has made it an issue of top concern to us. “Plastic pollution has been an issue for Audubon for a long time, largely because of its impacts on wildlife,” said Meg Kerr, Audubon’s senior director for policy. ![]()
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