1. We should eliminate the unnecessary uses of plastic

Plastic waste is littering our communities and piling up in landfills. Our research highlighted the unnecessary plastic packaging of items sold at Whole Foods stores and investigated the failings of the recycling program used by Amazon. Amazon subsequently committed to phase out the very same plastic mailers we investigated. Meanwhile, Costco announced a five-year plastic reduction plan after we helped organize consumers and shareholders. Our efforts in the Pacific Northwest paid off with a cascade of bills in Oregon and Washington designed to eradicate foam foodware and some single-use personal care items packaged in plastic, while facilitating the adoption of reusable containers in restaurants and bulk filling and dispensing stations in restaurants and lodging establishments.

Photo: CALPIRG State Director Jenn Engstrom helps deliver thousands of petition signatures from our members and supporters to Amazon headquarters in Seattle, urging the online retail giant to reduce its plastic packaging. Credit: Ricky Osborne.

Too often, consumer products aren’t built to last and can’t be repaired. PIRG is working to make it easier for consumers to fix everything from household electronics to large-scale agricultural equipment. This year, Right to Repair Campaign Director Nathan Proctor and CoPIRG’s Danny Katz were instrumental in the passage of Colorado’s farm equipment Right to Repair bill. We won big victories in Minnesota and California, where two of the most comprehensive Right to Repair bills became law. Our research partners at U.S. PIRG Education Fund called attention to the repairability deficiencies across major cellphone and laptop makers and the resulting high costs borne by consumers and the environment. We pointed out how to keep school Chromebooks out of landfills, and celebrated when Google committed to increase their longevity through extended support.Photo: MASSPIRG’s Janet Domenitz speaks in front of Google’s offices. Credit: Leise Jones Photography

3. An informed consumer is an empowered consumer

Early in the year, U.S. PIRG Education Fund released our “Safe at Home?” report, which warned consumers of the most common product hazards and dangerous delays associated with recall alerts. In anticipation of a summer filled with big-name concerts and marquee events, our Consumer Watchdog team informed event-goers about ticket scams and offered tips to avoid them. In May, we joined with nine other consumer advocate groups to file an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has published numerous financial guides, handled more than 4 million consumer complaints, and returned $19 billion to consumers. Our team released additional reports that detailed the failure of phone companies to carry out their legal obligations to protect consumers from robocalls and the shortcomings of airlines struggling to serve passengers who have returned to the skies at pre-pandemic levels.

Photo: PIRG’s Teresa Murray alerts the public to consumer threats. Credit: CBS.

4. Americans pay too much for health care and get too little in return

Our health care team advocated for better access to lower-priced generic and biosimilar prescription drugs by pushing for patent reform to encourage market competition. In March, Patricia Kelmar, PIRG’s senior director for health care campaigns, delivered testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives about the rising costs of prescription drugs and hospital-based services, and offered solutions to constrain the ballooning expenses. We advocated for the elimination of medical debt on credit reports. We also issued a consumer guide to help patients navigate the complexities of medical billing, avoid hidden costs and debt traps, and assert their rights in billing disputes.

Photo: PIRG’s Patricia Kelmar worked to protect patients and avoid accelerating the rise of health care costs. Credit: Washington Journal/CSPAN.

5. When it comes to toxic chemicals, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

PIRG has long decried the dangers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to human health and the environment, while offering policy options for their reduction and elimination. We secured a victory when the Pentagon released new military specifications that prohibit the purchase of PFAS-laden firefighting foam on military bases. After PIRG helped deliver 130,000 signatures from citizen advocates to REI, the outdoor retail giant committed to phasing out toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” by 2026. Thanks to our advocacy and that of our allies, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new national standards to limit six PFAS chemicals that contaminate drinking water and include nine additional chemicals on the Toxics Release Inventory reporting list. This summer, we supplied beachgoers with a map of PFAS-contaminated sites and water systems. And as the 2024 legislative sessions near, we convened stakeholders and legislators to discuss what states can do to stop contamination of PFAS from industrial sources.

Photo: PIRG’s Deirdre Cummings announces the launch of our campaign to ban toxic PFAS chemicals at a press conference. Credit: Leise Jones Photography.