EJ Leaders Support Bill to Cut Plastic Pollution

On June 4, Beyond Plastics organized a news conference to support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act and to respond to lobbying from the chemical and plastics industry, which is attempting to mislead environmental justice communities in order to protect their own profits. Chemicals found in plastic packaging are linked to health problems like cancer and developmental disorders, particularly in low-income communities of color. The news conference featured Sharon Lavigne of Rise St. James in Louisiana, where as a resident of Cancer Alley, she lives among the highest concentrations of pollution from plastics production in the country. Senator Pete Harckham, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Sharon Lavigne, Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, and Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics