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A Silent Killer Named Plastic / Judith Neck

Plastic waste 99922

 No matter how careful you are when you go to the supermarket, it's virtually impossible to avoid plastic. And there are sound alternatives, but I think that what's really confusing to the public is plastics companies have spent millions of dollars deceiving the public into thinking, ‘don't worry about all the single use plastic we use, just toss it in your recycling bin’. But they know that most plastics never get recycled. The plastic recycling rate is an abysmal 5% to 6% nationwide. And the people who know this the most are the plastic makers. The number one plastic producer in the US today is this little mom and pop company called ExxonMobil. And the problem of deceiving the public about plastics recycling is so serious that in September of 2024, the California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobil for making deceptive statements about plastics recycling and then their latest false solution, chemical recycling. I think that lawsuit has legs and we know that the courts are slow. But when plastics has its day in court, I think Attorney General Rob Bonta will have a very solid, judicial victory that will benefit all of us nationwide.

Judith Enck joins This Is Hell! to talk about the book that she recently co-authored of, "The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late”, published by The New Press

Judith is the founder and president of Beyond Plastics, whose goal is eliminating plastic pollution everywhere. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to serve as regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as deputy secretary for the environment in the New York Governor’s Office. She is currently a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution. 

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Judith enck
Guest

Judith Enck

Judith Enck spent her expansive career working to protect public health and the environment. Judith began as an environmental advocate and has held top influential positions in state and federal government. Appointed by President Obama, Judith served as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overseeing environmental protection in NY, NJ, 8 Indian Nations, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Judith is a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution and was a Visiting Scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.