CALPIRG launches summer campaign to tackle plastic packaging

Last week, CALPIRG launched our summer door-to-door outreach campaign to reduce plastic waste in online retail.

Online retailers create an enormous amount of plastic waste with single-use packaging that we just don’t need.  Almost every time we receive an online purchase, we’re confronted with a pile of plastic – foam peanuts, plastic shrink wrap, envelopes – almost all of which can’t be recycled.

That plastic packaging clogs landfills, litters our communities or pollutes the environment. Multiply that by the millions of daily purchases through the online retailer Amazon, and you get a packaging problem that generated 700 million pounds of plastic waste in 2021. With online shopping on the rise, this problem is only going to get worse if we don’t do something about it.

That’s why CALPIRG is calling on calling on Amazon to eliminate single-use plastic packaging in their shipments.

We know we can win. CALPIRG has a track record of taking on the plastics industry and succeeding. In 2014, we helped pass our state’s ban on plastic grocery bags, and then we defended that ban at the ballot box when plastic companies spent millions to try to overturn it. More recently we helped pass the Plastic Pollution Reduction act to reduce plastic from foodware and containers. We’ve seen time and time again that when we combine the power of public opinion with strategic advocacy, we can win.

To get Amazon to act, we’re demonstrating strong consumer support through public comments, social media, and drawing attention to the issue in the news. Our door-to-door outreach is engaging Californians across the state to show Amazon the public wants them to move beyond plastic.  If they haven’t yet, hopefully they’ll be stopping my your home soon.