Why do we ask Ithacans to reduce waste, bring their own containers, and join us in local and state policy fights?
Because waste is not just a disposal problem.
It is a climate problem.
It is a public health problem.
It is an environmental justice problem.
Our dependence on single-use products, throwaway systems, and wasteful purchasing practices fuels all three.
Zero Waste Ithaca works from a simple premise: if we want to address climate pollution, plastic pollution, and environmental injustice, we have to reduce waste at the source. That means using less, reusing more, and changing the policies and systems that keep disposable culture in place.
Waste and climate are inseparable
The waste crisis is part of the climate crisis.
GAIA’s Zero Waste to Zero Emissions shows that reducing waste at the source and expanding reuse, composting, and real recycling can be one of the fastest ways cities can cut climate pollution from the waste sector. Zero Waste Ithaca members contributed to the French, Japanese, Malayalam and Russian translations of this report.
Plastic is especially important here because its harms occur across its entire lifecycle, not just after it is thrown away. Plastic is tied to fossil fuel extraction, refining, manufacturing, transport, consumption, and disposal.
A 2021 report from Beyond Plastics, Plastic Is the New Coal, warned that greenhouse gas emissions from plastics were on track to surpass emissions from coal production in the United States by 2030.
Plastic pollution also affects the climate in ways that many people do not realize. Microplastics are now present not only in water and soil, but also in the air we breathe and in the atmosphere. As The Conversation reported in 2021, microplastics can interact with climate systems in ways scientists are only beginning to understand. That should be a warning sign, not an excuse for delay.
Landfills are also a major climate problem. They release methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas. New research suggests methane emissions from U.S. landfills may be even higher than previously understood.
We cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis
For years, the public was told that recycling would solve the plastic problem. It has not.
A 2022 report from The Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics, The Real Truth About the U.S. Plastics Recycling Rate, found that the U.S. post-consumer plastic recycling rate was only 5 to 6 percent in 2021. The same report found that per capita plastic waste generation in the United States had increased dramatically since 1980.
This basic failure has been visible for years, yet plastic production and use continue to expand. A more recent January 2026 Los Angeles Times report, “How To Fight California’s Epic Fail in Plastics Recycling,” reinforced the same point: the recycling story has been oversold while the actual system remains deeply inadequate.
Greenpeace USA’s 2025 report Merchants of Myth added another important layer to this picture: the plastic crisis is not only a failure of infrastructure, but also a failure driven by years of corporate myth-making. The report argues that major companies have continued to market recycling as a solution even while actual recyclability and real recycling rates remain deeply inadequate.
Plastic waste is increasing while plastic recycling remains extremely low. That is why Zero Waste Ithaca emphasizes reduction and reuse first. Recycling has a limited role, but it cannot carry the burden that industry and government have placed on it.
Plastic pollution is a public health issue
Most plastic does not become new plastic products. Much of it ends up in the environment, in landfills, or in incinerators. As plastics break down, they contaminate air, water, soil, food, wildlife, and human bodies.
Plastic pollution is also a chemical exposure issue. 2024 research from the PlastChem project identified more than 16,000 chemicals associated with plastics, including thousands of chemicals of concern to human health and the environment. This means the plastic crisis is not just about litter or visible waste. It is also about chronic exposure to a vast and poorly regulated chemical mixture embedded in everyday materials.
At the same time, evidence continues to grow that microplastics and nanoplastics are entering human bodies through air, food, and water. Scientists are still working to clarify the full range of health impacts, but major public health bodies now recognize plastics as a serious and growing health concern across their lifecycle, from fossil fuel extraction and manufacturing to use, recycling, and disposal.
Plastic pollution also reaches into food systems in ways that are often ignored. As The Guardian reported the widespread use of plastics in agriculture threatens soil health, food safety, and long-term ecological stability. This is another reminder that plastic is not a narrow waste issue. It is a systemic contamination issue.
Waste is a justice issue
Waste facilities are rarely distributed equitably.
Landfills, incinerators, plastic production infrastructure, other polluting facilities and disposal sites are often concentrated in low-income communities, communities of color, and other overburdened communities in the United States and around the world.
That means the people who benefit least from disposable culture are often the ones forced to live closest to its harms.
See for example this fact sheet by GAIA, Greenpeace Africa and Break Free From Plastic: Draped in Injustice — Unravelling the Textile Waste Crisis in Africa.
This is why waste policy must be understood as environmental justice policy. Any serious climate strategy must also confront who is exposed, who is burdened, and who is treated as disposable along with the products themselves.
The answer is source reduction and reuse
We need to dramatically reduce the amount of waste we produce.
Single-use disposables are a major driver of this crisis. We will not solve it through better marketing, better bins, or more wishful thinking about recycling. We need structural change.
That means:
- buying less
- reducing waste at the source
- expanding reuse and refill systems
- supporting composting where appropriate
- ending dependence on toxic single-use materials
- changing public policy, procurement, and business practices
- building a culture that values stewardship over disposability
This is not about going backward. It is about moving forward with better systems.
We need a collective shift away from the wastefulness of the disposable economy and toward a culture of reuse, repair, responsibility, and creativity.