Joe Biden should heed environmentalists’ calls, become first plastic-free prez: Activist

As the incoming US president, Joe Biden should address the plastic pollution problem in the United States and become the first plastic-free president, Dianna Cohen, Co-Founder, and CEO of Plastic Pollution Coalition, a US-based environmental alliance, told Sputnik.

On Tuesday, the Plastic Pollution Coalition, Greenpeace, and over 500 other activist groups rolled out the Presidential Plastics Action Plan, which urges Biden to take eight executive actions to tackle plastic pollution and become a “Plastic Free President.” Among those eight executive actions are suspensions of subsidies for plastic producers and termination of government purchases of single-use plastic, according to the advocacy group.

“Plastic pollutes at every stage of its existence, from extraction, use, to disposal... Our 1,200 member groups and businesses that form Plastic Pollution Coalition support this US Presidential Plastics Action Plan as a much-needed step toward a plastic pollution-free America and a more just, equitable world, “Cohen said.

The activists have also called on the president-elect to appoint “a plastic pollution czar”, whose job would be to coordinate the plastic reduction efforts both domestically in the US and on the international level. According to the activists, all those measures can be taken without the approval of Congress.