Big Oil’s Plan B: More Plastic

Pacific Environment
Date: December 27, 2020

Big Oil is racing to make more plastic as demand for fossil fuel energy is plummeting.

Fossil fuels are the core element in the production of plastics. Faced with falling profits from dirty energy use, the industry is proposing massive expansion of the petrochemical production of plastics—drowning our communities and oceans in plastic trash.


Our partner Green Stone in China is pressuring companies like Starbucks to reduce the amount of plastics they use to package food and drinks.


Together with our long-term local partners, we have been building a broad campaign—as part of a powerful international movement called “Break Free From Plastic”—to challenge plastic pollution in river towns of China and coastal communities of Vietnam.

We are delighted that the national governments of both countries have taken notice and issued strong national directives to reduce plastic waste.

Together, we can do great things. Help us seize this momentum to advocate plastic bans and other strong actions to stop plastic pollution at its source: production. Please make a generous, tax-deductible gift today!

Our next move is to fund and train grassroots activists to advocate full implementation of these Plastics Directives in their provinces and cities.

This new push will complement the superb work our local partners are already doing to achieve plastic bans, help communities reduce the amount of waste they produce, pressure companies to stop using plastic in packaging, and persuade regional governments to adopt the successful local models our partners have developed to reduce plastic trash.

For example, our partner Green Stone in Nanjing, China, identified over one hundred companies that overpackage their products in unnecessary plastic. Green Stone started recruiting college students to serve as the public face of a campaign that is now pressuring retailers to rethink, and of course reduce, their plastic packaging footprint.

Supporting local groups like Green Stone reinforces an international campaign to keep plastic out of our oceans and communities. That’s why your generous support is so critical this year. Please make a personally meaningful gift today.

Thank you for all you do to stand up to Big Oil’s reckless plastic play.

PS: Want to know who the world’s worst plastic polluters are? Check out our coalition’s new report, to which we and our local partners contributed. Want to be a part of the solution? Make a contribution today to help us and our allies put an end to Big Oil’s irresponsible push to produce more throwaway plastic.