In 2022, ​​the Biden Administration initiated a plan to phase out single-use plastics in U.S. National Parks and other public lands.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum signed an order rescinding the Biden Administration plan, thereby allowing the U.S. government to continue selling single-use plastics despite the fact that plastic makes up nearly 80% of pollution found in national parks.

“Plastics continue to break up into harmful micro and nano-plastics that threaten not only these protected ecosystems and wildlife, but also human health,” said Paulita Bennett-Martin with 5 Gyres Institute. “We need our nation's leaders to listen to the science and safeguard our environment, public lands, and communities by advancing policies that reduce plastic pollution, not perpetuate it.”