
Fashion industry waste is drastically contributing to climate change
Have you ever thought about where clothing goes after you’re done with it? Or the impact that it has on climate change?
Nearly all of America’s trash could be composted and recycled. But we’ve got a lot of work to do to get there.
Most of us put our recyclables out for collection. But it’s going to take more than individual action to deal with our trash problem. Only 24% of our trash actually gets recycled, and only 9% gets composted. We can do better. Together we can share information, resources and push our leaders to build a better recycling and composting system.
Have you ever thought about where clothing goes after you’re done with it? Or the impact that it has on climate change?
It is no secret that we have a waste problem in New Jersey and the country - in fact, the U.S. throws out enough plastic approximately every 11 hours to fill MetLife Stadium, and that amount is increasing. We share the goal of solving our waste problem and turning back the tide on packaging pollution. Producer responsibility is a critical tool in achieving a zero-waste future. We would like to see a full producer responsibility model be considered in New Jersey, in which producers are responsible for the full cost of the system, everything from product design, to collection, to processing.
Amidst a flurry of bills, Gov. Murphy signed into law legislation to increase the recycled content of plastics and other products gradually to up to 50% recycled content. The bill would require increasing post-consumer recycled content in a variety of packaging products including plastic containers, plastic beverage containers, plastic & paper bags, plastic trash bags & glass containers. On Monday, the New Jersey Assembly voted 48-23-3 and the New Jersey Senate voted 22-15 to approve the Recycled Content bill (S2515/A4676) on the last day of the legislative session
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law that increases the recycled content of plastics and other products. The bill requires increasing the percentage of post-consumer recycled content gradually to up to 50% in a variety of packaging products, including plastic containers, plastic beverage containers, plastic and paper bags, plastic trash bags and glass containers.
"New Jersey’s communities, shorelines, and parks are facing a severe plastic pollution crisis. Of course, we can’t recycle our way out of this crisis. We need to use less virgin plastic, and this recycled content bill will set a national standard that will move us toward using more recycled content – and not virgin plastic – for plastic containers."
The New Jersey Assembly voted 48-23-3 and the New Jersey Senate voted 22-15 to approve the Recycled Content bill (S2515/A4676) on the final day of the legislative session. The bill would require increasing post-consumer recycled content in a variety of packaging products including plastic containers, plastic beverage containers, plastic & paper bags, plastic trash bags & glass containers. The legislation now goes to Gov. Murphy who will have 7 days to decide the bill’s fate.