Small Cities can Prevent and Reduce Plastic Pollution.

The Issue

Character towns and small cities can prevent and reduce plastics in their waste stream. Plastics have enriched us all, consumers, producers and service providers. Like all good things, too much is too much; and that may be where we are with plastics. Cities are taking action, as shown below. The Pacific Ocean sumps are the most dramatic evidence of our abuse of plastics and their disposal. Local beaches, rivers and lakes suffer likewise as do landfills and littered roadside rights-of-ways. Recycling is growing. The US EPA found that in 2014 about 258 million tons of Municipal solid waste [MSW] were generated. More than 89 million tons of MSW were recycled and composted, equivalent to a 34.6 percent recycling rate.