Repost: From Beyond Plastics Newsletter

If you missed our May 7 webinar on “The Plastic Detox” with the film’s co-director, Louie Psihoyos; the heroic scientist, Dr. Shanna Swan; and Julie and Eric Isaac, one of the couples featured in the film, you can watch the recording here.

If you haven’t already seen it, I urge you to watch this powerful film about plastics and health anytime on Netflix and consider organizing a local screening followed by a panel of local experts to educate your community about plastics’ health risks and how they can take action to protect themselves. Our guide to hosting a screening provides detailed, step-by-step guidance to help you create an impactful and well-attended event.

Just a reminder that you can always find recordings of webinars both in our website’s event listings (all our past events remain accessible), as well as on our YouTube channel. Speaking of how to find our webinar recordings, I hope you’ll visit the new FAQs section of our website to find answers to all (we hope!) your questions.

Thanks to more than 150 generous supporters, we met our Earth Day matching gift challenge goal, raising the full $25,000—all of which will be matched by our wonderful challenge donor—to support our Art & Activism initiative. We are very grateful to everyone who donated. 

Read on to find our new fact sheet about the impact of plastic pollution on birds, an urgent action to protect TSCA, our nation’s premier law regulating toxic chemicals from an industry-driven attack in Congress, details for our upcoming events, all the latest news, and more.

Yours for a cleaner, healthier planet,

Judith Enck
President, Beyond Plastics

 FACT SHEET: Plastic Poses a Growing Threat to Birds 
Plastic pollution poses a threat to birds’ survival. Plastic is found in the bodies of virtually all seabirds, woven into backyard nests, and scattered across the most remote bird habitats in the world. This problem is only getting worse as plastic production continues to rise. Learn more.

 STUDY: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Found in Human Breast Milk 
A new peer-reviewed study from Toxic-Free Future, the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Emory University, and others published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology found toxic endocrine-disrupting chemicals in breast milk. Learn more.

 Can Avoiding Plastic for One Week Reduce the Level of Toxic Chemicals in Your Body? 
If you watched “The Plastic Detox” film, you may be wondering how you, too, can reduce your exposure to plastics and the many toxic chemicals they contain and how long it will take for your chemical levels to drop. Last month, a new peer-reviewed study published in Nature Medicine shed some light on this important question. Learn more.

Congress: Protect Our Health from Toxic Chemicals in Plastics 
The chemical industry is trying to gut the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the most important federal law that enables the EPA (or what’s left of it) to protect health and the environment from harmful chemicals. Chemical industry lobbyists want to weaken the already-meager protections offered by TSCA, which would further limit the EPA’s ability to protect us from many of the most harmful chemicals found in plastics and other products, including things like PFAS, BPA, BPS, phthalates, mercury, formaldehyde, halogenated flame retardants, and more. Help protect your health and our environment by urging your members of Congress to reject the efforts to weaken TSCA. Email Congress.

For Diane “Didi” Bild, MD, MPH of Silver Spring, Maryland, retirement became an opportunity to turn a lifelong commitment to prevention into action against plastic pollution. A trained physician and epidemiologist, Didi co-founded Beyond Plastics Montgomery County, Maryland in February 2024 and has since helped educate her community about plastic waste, advocate for policies that reduce unnecessary plastics, and raise awareness about the growing evidence linking plastics and microplastics to human health concerns. She is also a valued active member of Beyond Plastics Volunteer Speakers Bureau. Learn more about Didi and her work.

 Spreading the Word about “The Problem with Plastic” in Vermont 
One of the cornerstones of our effort to ending plastic pollution is educating individuals, communities, legislators, and journalists about both the problem, and also the solutions at hand. We wrote our new book, “The Problem with Plastic” to provide a new educational tool to help achieve these goals. So, you can imagine our delight when we learned that Michael Rancourt, a supporter and former faculty member at Bennington College, had purchased many copies of the book and handed them out to state legislators and librarians in Vermont. Read more.

• Judith Enck joined the founders of reusable foodware companies Ahimsa and USEFULL in calling out the health dangers of plastics in school lunches and urging legislators to act in this op-ed in USA Today.
• Judith also countered the industry-spread myth that enacting plastic packaging reduction legislation would result in higher prices for consumers. Her op-ed in Syracuse.com points out that reducing packaging waste should actually help manufacturers cut costs as well as leading to significant taxpayer dollar savings.
• Not all price hikes are imaginary as this Barron’s article shows. The ongoing instability in the Strait of Hormuz and the resulting shortage of fossil fuels has caused a huge spike in the price of certain plastics. Now is the perfect time to stop making so much plastic and invest in clean, renewable domestic energy sources.
• Despite the fact that the Freepoint Eco-Systems “chemical recycling” plant near Hebron, Ohio has regularly violated pollution laws since it came online in 2024, the company is planning a second even larger plant in Eloy, Arizona. Opposition to the Arizona facility points to the Ohio plant’s terrible track record as a compelling reason to stop the proposed plant. This Inside Climate News article quotes our own Rita O’Connell and other key national and community advocates. Please contact Rita at RitaOConnell@Bennington.edu if you want to get involved in fighting chemical recycling plants in Arizona or your own community.
• Judith Enck joined “Your Call” on KALW to discuss “The Problem with Plastic.” Take a listen.
• Companies like Trashie, Helpsy, Ridwell and others offer consumers the option to recycle unwanted used clothing. But what really happens to these tired garments once they’re shipped off? This New York Times article explores the murky world of textile recycling and includes quotes from our Southern California Director, Susan Keefe.  
• Last but not least, a little bit of good news from the land of enchantment. Source New Mexico reports on the Environmental Improvement Board’s unanimous decision to adopt new rules to monitor and limit the use of firefighting foams that contain the “forever chemicals” PFAS and have polluted groundwater in and around military installations in New Mexico.

Reduce Toxic Plastic in Your Town, Neighborhood, or City: Take Our Training on July 25, 28 or 30
Find out how YOU can play a leading role in reducing toxic plastic in your area at our free, virtual grassroots organizing and advocacy training during Plastic Free July. The two-hour training is held over Zoom and is free of charge and open to all. Learn more and choose whichever of the three sessions in late July works best with your schedule. Get started.

 Save the Date: Judith’s Fall Class Starts on Wednesday, September 9 
We know fall feels like a long ways off but summer always flies by so please save the date for Judith Enck’s popular Beyond Plastic Pollution class in the fall. This seven-week class is taught on Wednesday evenings from 7-9pm ET between September 9 and October 21. It’s open to everyone, high school-aged and up located anywhere with a strong internet connection. If you’d like to join the class, please let us know and we’ll email you the link as soon as registration opens. Notify me.

BOOK TALKS! Join Us to Learn More About “The Problem with Plastic”
We would love to see you at one of our upcoming book events in Brookline, MA, Sharon, CT, and Manhattan, NY. View all book events. >>

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Thank you for reading! We hope you’ve enjoyed this issue of Beyond Plastics’ monthly newsletter. Please make a tax-deductible gift to support our work to end plastic pollution everywhere.

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