Our waste is killing our wildlife. Our economy encourages us to make, use and toss at the greatest possible speed. Often, we don’t think twice about getting our coffee to-go in a foam cup, or food in a foam takeout container.
Currently, 70 million plastic foam cups are estimated to be disposed by Americans every day. Of these, about one-third end up in waterways: rivers, lakes and especially oceans. I’ve grown up swimming in the Midwest waterways and our Great Lakes my entire life. The integrity of these Minnesota waters is at risk because of our consumerist and throwaway culture.
To protect our wildlife and our waterways we need to dramatically reduce our plastic waste and we can start by banning foam cups and takeout containers here in Minnesota.
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