Abstract
The disgusting nature of plastic pollution has finally captured the attention of policymakers and driven legal change. Local, state, and national bans on various plastic consumer items coupled with voluntary industry switching creates momentum toward a full-scale end to unnecessary plastic products. Bans have the capacity to create an important tipping point. This Article extolls the effectiveness of consumer bans and explores the challenges to achieving this highest level of environmental control. Plastic is essentially pure petroleum.1 Its persistence and destructiveness in the environment presents unique reasons to eliminate its use altogether. Plastics should only be used for essential products for which we have no replacements. The evidence is clear that banning single-use plastic products achieves environmental protection with negligible impact on consumers. The harm caused along the full lifecycle of plastic requires an appropriate regulatory response. This Article argues for a ban of non-essential plastics to address the scope and scale of plastic pollution facing the world today.
Recommended Citation
Rachael E. Salcido, Banning Plastic, 2024 ULR 57 (2024)
Included in
Environmental Law Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Commons