PennEnvironment takes Wildlife over Waste Campaign to the streets

Whether it’s in our own backyards or the deepest depths of our oceans, plastic pollution is degrading our environment and killing our wildlife. This summer, PennEnvironment staff and volunteers will be all across Pennsylvania to talk with local residents about banning take-out food containers made from polystyrene, or what many of us know as Styrofoam.

“Polystyrene is one of the most common, harmful and unnecessary forms of single-use plastic,” said PennEnvironment’s Stephanie Wein. “PennEnvironment staff will be visiting neighborhoods across Pennsylvania this summer to not only educate people about this critical problem, but to encourage them to act.”

Every year an estimated 70 million polystyrene foam cups are sold in the U.S., and nearly one third of these will end up back in our waterways polluting our ecosystems and harming wildlife that mistake them for food. Plastics have been found in the stomachs of hundreds of species including whales, birds, and sea turtles across the globe.

PennEnvironment is visiting thousands of homes to educate Pennsylvanians about the harms of plastic foam, and to ask citizens to call on their state legislators in support of House Bill 627 to ban polystyrene foam cups and take-out containers.  

Photo: PennEnvironment is visiting thousands of homes to educate Pennsylvanians about the harms of plastic foam, and to ask citizens to call on their state legislators in support of House Bill 627 to ban polystyrene foam cups and take-out containers. Credit: Staff