{"id":3592,"date":"2023-05-08T10:13:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T14:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/pennsylvania\/articles\/victory-new-state-laws-will-reduce-pollution-from-plastic-foam-and-packaging\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:32:36","slug":"victory-new-state-laws-will-reduce-pollution-from-plastic-foam-and-packaging","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/pennsylvania\/articles\/victory-new-state-laws-will-reduce-pollution-from-plastic-foam-and-packaging\/","title":{"rendered":"Victory! New state laws will reduce pollution from plastic foam and packaging"},"featured_media":47558,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[167],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[2],"topic_tax":[142],"class_list":["post-3592","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[142],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":167,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":142}},"featured_image":47558,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"Oregon and Washington are taking the kind of concrete steps we need to achieve zero waste.","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":"","hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":4,"people":"203"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}},{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":2,"people":"1087"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More states are giving the boot to some of the worst single-use plastics.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With northwestern neighbors Oregon and Washington each passing new plastic reduction laws in recent weeks, we can celebrate a big step forward in the effort to get the worst, most unnecessary, most wasteful single-use plastics out of our lives.<\/span>\r\n<h3><strong>Oregon says goodbye to plastic foam<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oregon lawmakers have voted to phase out polystyrene foam foodware, packing peanuts and coolers statewide. All this wasteful plastic \u201cstuff\u201d sticks around for centuries after being thrown out and is nearly impossible to recycle \u2014 instead clogging our landfills and polluting our environment.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>In recent years, staff with PIRG and Environment Oregon have knocked on tens of thousands of doors in Oregon to talk about the need to move beyond polystyrene foam.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The overwhelming response: \u201cIt\u2019s about time!\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the Beaver State\u2019s new laws don\u2019t stop there. Lawmakers also passed a bill requiring an update to the state\u2019s health code to make it easier for restaurants to provide reusable container options.<\/span>\r\n<h3><strong>Washington tackles wasteful packaging<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington state, meanwhile, is already a national leader when it comes to reducing waste and pollution from single-use plastic foam products \u2014 in 2021, following advocacy by PIRG, Environment Washington and others, lawmakers passed the strongest ban on polystyrene foam in the country.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>Now, the state is taking on more harmful and unnecessary single-use plastics.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A new law requires that new buildings constructed with water fountains also contain bottle filling stations; phases out the use of small plastic containers, wrappers and packaging for personal care items like shampoo or soap by hotels and other lodging establishments; bans soft film-wrapped floats and docks; and mandates a study of hard-shell foam-filled floats and docks.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>It just goes to show: When groups like ours and citizen advocates like you mobilize for concrete, commonsense solutions that will move our communities beyond single-use plastic, we can win.<\/b>\r\n<h3><strong>What\u2019s next in the effort to move beyond plastic<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These new laws are a huge step in the right direction \u2014 but we can't take our foot off the gas now.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plastic waste is still being dumped into our communities, our oceans and our open spaces at an astonishing rate. And all the while, major corporations continue to flood our lives with unnecessary single-use plastics even as it\u2019s become clear that the vast majority of all that \u201cstuff\u201d can\u2019t or won\u2019t be recycled.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With our supporters by our side, we\u2019ll keep pushing for more bold action to address the plastic waste crisis and build the zero-waste future we all deserve.<\/span>","":null}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Victory! 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