Target: Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Goal: Reduce plastic pollution by incorporating waste into asphalt.
Each year, 100 million marine animals die due to the disposal of plastic. In 2021 alone, 40 million tons of plastic was disposed of within the U.S. Nearly 85% went into landfills, harming not only marine animals, but also wildlife in surrounding environments. Wildlife habitats are littered with plastic cups, bags and more, contributing to the destruction of their homes and well-being. When not properly disposed of, plastic and other harmful materials are littered along highways and waterways.80% of sea pollution is a result of plastic. No amount of environmental clean-up has saved marine life from the risk of plastic and other harmful materials. Organizations are beginning to promote using plastic to create asphalt for U.S. roadways. This would not only reduce the overall plastic pollution, but it would also be more durable and cheaper than normal asphalt. The manufacturing process in creating these roadways would also reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and carbon in comparison to other processes.
Plastic roadways will overall benefit marine animals and help save their dwindling species. Pollution is riddled across the world, and the switch from normal asphalt to plastic asphalt can help reduce America’s overall pollution rates. Littered plastic can be retrieved and utilized for a sustainable cause, preventing further harm from all wildlife that can come in contact with it.
With marine animals being harmed by plastic in waterways, reducing it can help their populations grow, as well as that of other wildlife negatively impacted by pollution. Sign the petition below to urge Secretary Buttigieg to implement plastic asphalt in U.S. roadways to benefit marine life and the overall environment.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Buttigieg,
With a majority of sea pollution coming from plastic, this dangerous material must be utilized in a sustainable fashion. Utilizing plastic asphalt is a durable and affordable way to reduce overall pollution. This process decreases the amount of toxic gas being emitted into the environment and prevents wildlife from being harmed by littering.
Tons of plastic is disposed of daily, and recycling these materials into an ecological source will improve Earth’s atmosphere and the biosphere around the world. If plastic disposal is not halted, millions of wildlife will continue dying because of this harmful material.
I urge you to promote plastic asphalt to use in the making of roadways. This alternative option is an environmentally-friendly way to turn the access of plastic into a beneficial source of transportation. It will benefit the environment and all that comes with it, helping to save the Earth one step at a time.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Muntaka Chasant
My hat is off to Pete!!! Go Pete!!! This is the first intelligent purpose for plastic. I still feel plastics have gotten away with murder. Literally! Plastics have been selling since the 1950’s but never helped clean up. They need to make financial repair fro what they have done. Working in this way with Asphalt might be an answer to this devastation of plastics. Plastics companies need to be sued by we the people to help pay for the destruction and to pay for this savvy idea king forward. The tax payer is not going to pay for the damn plastics CEO’s. Have them pay through the nose for the horror they have created.
The efficacy of this for road surfaces has been demonstrated in parts of India, where local groups concerned about damage of plastic in the environment have coordinated with government agencies in order to recycle plastic waste this way. An additional benefit has been low skill employment creation separating plastics from other matter. E.g. removing plastic from fishing nets (the plastic was having very negative impact on fishers catch).
And I agree with g – the plastics industry and the companies using non-degradable, non-recyclable plastics should have to pay a charge on their production & use of such plastics. Of course they’ll pass this on in prices, but if their prices go up, they’ll lose consumers. So there’d be an incentive to shift to more environmentally friendly packaging.
Even better, turn off the plastics tap.
Especially by the Rich World, e.g. USA, UK, EU.