2021-08-25 EMC Agenda item 5-b(1) - Final-PSRWG-Report-to-Leg

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Rafael Bergstrom, Executive Director Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii My name is Rafael Bergstrom, the Executive Director of Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii (SCH) and a collaborating and navigating differences in opinions and the unstable situation of COVID-19. Please share in appreciation for everyone who gave their time to this. Over the past 9 years SCH has removed 550,000 lbs. of debris from our coastlines, united 40,000 volunteers, educated 42,000 students, and waded through a destructive mess of plastic pollution. We are experts on plastic pollution, the consequences of inaction, and the solutions we have at our fingertips. Our citizens produce more than double per capita plastic waste of China and five times that of Indonesia, while (with Europe), housing 95% of the companies, lobbyists, and industries in the plastic economy (WEF 2016). While this working group is offering you some important steps, the recommendations are nowhere near enough. As our ocean fills with more plastic by weight than fish (Washington Post 2016) by 2050, as we have seen a 610% increase in raw plastic production since 1975 (Jambeck 2015), and as 95% of plastic packaging globally (resulting in $80-120 billion annual cost) is lost after a single-first use (WEF 2016), the solutions must be more geared towards a shift away from the fossil fuel based, greenhouse gas creating industry of plastics. The proliferation of plastic production will account for 20% of the global fossil fuel are also releasing methane as they degrade in water and sunlight. Please read the comprehensive PEW research paper and accompanying article in the prestigious Journal of Science released just a month ago the message: action to stop plastic production and the companies responsible for it is needed now from every form of government from local to global. Despite an overwhelming majority on the working group who wanted stronger action on extended producer responsibility (requiring accountability to full product life cycles and major shifts in supply chains), we were undermined by the few whose direct financial ties to the industry are very clear. Today an article was released by NPR exposing the lies and deceit in the plastic industry and their lobbying groups for more than 50 years that still proliferate today. Our State has an opportunity to decouple from this fraudulent industry and require, at minimum, a 50% reduction in plastic packaging imports. We can create new jobs in reusable containers, refilling, compost, local agriculture, and lower costs for business by getting rid of all single-use items by asking consumers to do their part and bring their own. As the PEW article suggests, this comprehensive action must start now to protect our future. Please use PSRWG recommendations as a beginning to far more comprehensive action. Mahalo for your time, 17