Happy Plastic Free July! Meet Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, the founder of the movement.
Description
Happy Plastic Free July! PFJ is a grass roots movement that is all about encouraging us all to reduce our use of plastics and be part of the solution to plastic pollution.
So who better to talk to than the founder of this very movement, Rebecca Prince-Ruiz. I am honestly so excited to talk to Rebecca and hear all her wisdom, advice, tips
and even a few kernels of optimism about the plastic pollution problem.
In this episode Rebecca shares:
- Her background and how she got into plastic free July
- Why she found her first experience with a recycling facility so confronting
- How difficult she found her first plastic free month
- How plastic free July grew to the size it is now
- The impact she has seen of Plastic Free July have since it started.
- What the global plastics treaty is
- If she thinks politicians are doing well with this the plastics issue
- Why a tax on virgin plastic products could help
- Whether she has companies pushing back against Plastic Free July
- Why the solution is to have plastic companies involved in the full life of their products, not just until the point of sale
- Some good news about the plastic pollution problem
Key Quotes
“For me visiting a recycling facility was really confronting”
“We're just creating a growing problem that we're always playing catch up and we're never going to be able to recycle our way out of”
“We have states in the US where there is legislation to ban a plastic bag ban”
“It's still cheaper and easier for manufacturers to use virgin plastics than it is to use recycled content”
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