Smart Talk: Plastic pollution prevalent in area waterways

• Merideth Bucher
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Producer of WITF's Smart Talk

 

Airdate: Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Plastic pollution is everywhere and it’s getting worse.

From single-use food items to plastic bags, plastic products litter communities, overburden landfills and pollute waterways.

A report by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center paints an alarming picture of the scope of the problem. Their research found that microplastic contamination existed in 100 percent of water samples taken from more than 50 of Pennsylvania’s most popular rivers, lakes and streams.

Municipalities want legislative action to address pollution

Communities across Pennsylvania are demanding the legislature take action, but in their absence not stand in the way of local communities enacting ordinances to address waste and litter from single-use plastics.

Philadelphia is the latest municipality to file suit to undo the General Assembly’s preemption law. Councilman Mark Squilla represents City Council’s First District, a diverse and growing area that stretches along the Delaware River and he appears on Smart Talk Thursday to discuss the legal action.

Also on the program are David Masur, Executive Director, PennEnvironment, along with Faran Savitz, Conservation Associate, PennEnvironment and John Wallace, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Director, Millersville University Center for Environmental Sciences. They join Smart Talk Thursday to highlight the dangerous levels of microplastics in Pennsylvania waterways.