To: the elected leaders of western North Carolina

Plastic pollution is a threat to North Carolina’s environment and to human health. I urge you to adopt new policies and programs mandated by the North Carolina Solid Waste Management Act to reduce plastic waste and stop its introduction into our environment.

Plastic bags, styrofoam cups, and other single-use plastics litter our forests and trails and clog up our rivers and streams. These plastics don’t biodegrade. Instead, they break down into smaller and smaller pieces over hundreds or even thousands of years. These “microplastic” films, fibers, and fragments are consumed by aquatic animals and bio-accumulate up the food chain. Over time, they become so small that they can travel by wind. According to a study published by the World Wildlife Federation, plastics are in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat — we ingest approximately one credit card-worth of plastic every week.

These plastics and the additives used to make them leach into our food and environment, and can be harmful to human health. Phthalates — which make plastics soft and pliable and are used in food packaging — are known endocrine disruptors, have been linked to higher rates of childhood asthma, and are potentially harmful to the reproductive and nervous systems.

Styrene — the main ingredient in styrofoam cups — is classified by WHO, NIH, and National Research Council as a “likely” or “probable” human carcinogen.

MountainTrue, a regional conservation organization, conducts water sampling in rivers and streams throughout western North Carolina to assess the prevalence and likely sources of the plastics polluting our rivers and streams. So far, they’ve found plastics in every body of water they’ve tested. In the French Broad River, MountainTrue found an average of 15.5 pieces of microplastic per 1-liter sample of water, with nearly 40% of that being plastic films derived from plastic bags, candy wrappers, and food packaging. In the Watauga River, they’ve documented 11 microplastics per liter.

The North Carolina Solid Waste Management Act doesn’t just give local governments the authority to act. Because the presence of a pollutant that is harmful to both human health and the environment has been documented in our region, the law mandates that local governments must act.

I urge you to join the more than 400 local governments across the country that have already passed plastic reduction laws. Act now to reduce plastics pollution before it enters our environment.

Sincerely,

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