Session Chairs: Jane Patton, Plastic Pollution Coalition; Leslie Tamminen, Seventh Generation Advisors
This session looks at a global toolkit for plastic pollution source reduction actions for regulators and advocates in developing (LDCs and SIDs) and developed sub-nationals/countries.
Nongovernmental environmental organizations Plastic Pollution Coalition and Upstream, in consultation with Seventh Generation Advisors, BreakFreeFromPlastic, Zero Waste Europe, GAIA, the State of California, and others will introduce a global toolkit for reducing single-use packaging and plastic pollution through source reduction actions. The toolkit is meant for advocates and regulators in developed countries and subnational governments, as well as developing countries, including LDCs and SIDs. The toolkit will focus on actions for integral policies such as Extended Producer Responsibility, and, as of the date of the conference, actions on predominate type of plastic litter such as plastic bags and polystyrene (the toolkit will eventually reach other products such as micro beads, straws, cups, etc.). Meant to be a comprehensive online resource, it will be a compilation of local, state and federal single use plastic bag and polystyrene mandates across the globe, existing ordinances and statues, regulatory effectiveness information, scientific data, legal resources, and community engagement tools for regulators and for advocates. As a global, non-branded resource, it will necessarily rely upon linkages to multiple other organizations, institutions, and agencies.
It is important for conference attendees to understand how the toolkit is structured, and its utility to their specific situation: panelists will provide a brief introduction about how and why the toolkit was developed (currently, there is not an up-to date, international source reduction compendium resource for regulators and advocates), and an in-depth review of toolkit contents, with specific focus on graphic charts that correlate actions to a specific outcome, and actions to a category of user (e.g., developed or developing nation or subnational government). Panelists will also include a summary about prospective additions to the toolkit post conference. Session attendees will gain an understanding about a valuable resource for a wide range of source reduction actions and policies.
PANEL:
- – Doorae Shin, Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation
- – Miriam Gordon, UPSTREAM
- – Von Hernandez, Break Free From Plastic
- – Sean Bothwell, California Coastkeepers
Abstracts
Source Reduction through Policy Victories in Hawaii
Authors: Doorae Shin (Kokua Hawaii Foundation, United States), Doorae Shin (Kokua Hawaii Foundation)
Plastic Free Hawaiʻi is a program of the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by Kim and Jack Johnson to support environmental education in Hawaiʻi schools and communities. Plastic Free Hawaiʻi has been an active member of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, and our team works closely with many policy advocacy groups in Hawaiʻi from Surfrider Foundation Hawaiʻi Chapters to Sierra Club Hawaiʻi Chapter. In Hawaiʻi, much has been accomplished to reduce plastic pollution at the source. From policies such as statewide plastic bag bans to EPS foam bans in two counties, advocates in Hawaiʻi are leading by example to tackle plastic pollution. With cigarettes being the #1 item found at beach cleanups, Hawaiʻi also has a policy banning cigarette smoking at all public beaches, parks and bus stops. Advocates in Hawaiʻi can offer contributions to the global toolkit that enhance efforts of advocates around the world to achieve similar victories with their local governments.
Global Toolkit for the successful adoption of policies and regulation to source reduce single-use plastic
Authors: Jane Patton (Plastic Pollution Coalition, United States), Miriam Gordon (UPSTREAM Policy), Joan Marc Simon (Zero Waste Europe), Von Hernandez (Break Free From Plastic Movement)
Multiple non-governmental environmental organizations will introduce a Global Toolkit, an international web-based resource for source reduction of commonly littered single-use plastic. The Toolkit is meant to share best practices and be a “go-to” resource for accessing the collective experience and knowledge of peers engaged worldwide in plastic source reduction actions. The Global Toolkit is intended to empower advocates and regulators in both the Global North and Global South (including LDCs and SIDs) and at various levels of government (local, state, federal, national). The Global Toolkit will include a full spectrum of actions for the adoption of source reduction policies and laws by regulators and advocates: existing ordinances and statutes, regulatory effectiveness information, current scientific support, legal resources, and community engagement tools. An implementation and training team will ultimately be assembled to support community level advocates and government officials in their use of the toolkit, and to ensure continual updating. The March 2018 presentation of the first phase of the Global Toolkit will premier plastic bags and polystyrene section; the emerging science of climate change impacts of single-use packaging; and connections to resources to defend single-use bag bans against legal preemption strategies by industry. Ensuing 2018 phases of Toolkit development will include sections on microbeads and microfibers, cups/lids/straws, bottled water, smoking-related items, and other take-out items, as well as a producer responsibility section, and completion of the online resource.