End Plastic Pollution in Brooklyn and Beyond
Beyond Plastics aims to end plastic pollution, everywhere. Founded by Judith Enck, the organization pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates.
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Monthly Meetings & Regular Events
Plastic pollution is a crisis we can solve.
Our personal actions, our actions together, and the action we can demand from policymakers can stop the flow of plastic waste. Beyond Plastics Brooklyn has the information you need to understand the crisis and the savvy to help you plug in meaningfully and effectively.
Calendar
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- There are no upcoming events.
Latest Past Events
Regular Meeting
For the zoom link, contact beyondplasticsbklyn@gmail.com.
Atlantic Antic
Join Beyond Plastics Brooklyn at our table at the Atlantic Antic Festival on Oct 1, noon-6pm. Contact Jody Reiss (ailanthis@gmail.com) for details.
Climate March
Southeast Central Park 5th Avenue and 59th St, New York CityJoin Beyond Plastics at the March to End Fossil Fuels on Sept. 17 in NYC The United Nations is calling on world leaders to take real steps to lead us off fossil fuels to protect people and the planet. This September, the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York will gather world leaders to commit...
Plastic pollution is a structural problem.
It stems from the overproduction of a material that is highly durable and so inexpensive to produce that manufacturers generate millions of tons of it per year. In the Unites States, 42% of plastics manufactured each year are packaging. Many others are single use items like straws, cups, and silverware, that become nearly instant trash. They litter streets, clog the water supply, choke wildlife, contribute to climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, and even penetrate the human body.
As a structural problem, it requires structural solutions. Personal choices and careful recycling are useful but limited. Plastic production has increased 70-fold since 1950 and is on track to double again by 2040. When your bathtub is overflowing, it is little use to mop up the water without turning off the tap.
Beyond Plastics Brooklyn is focused on pushing for regulatory change that will reduce the production and use of frivolous, single-use plastic, which is currently unavoidable in our lives. We support bans on single use items and endorse laws that promote reuse and make manufacturers responsible for disposal of their products. We are aware that plastics do not exist without chemicals, and contain many additives that are hazardous and can cause cancers, disrupt hormones, and cause birth defects and neurological harm to developing fetuses. We support laws that limit or eliminate these toxicants. We are opposed to plastic burning reclassified as “recycling,” such as “chemical recycling,” “advanced recycling,” and “pyrolysis.”
Upstream problems require upstream solutions. Consumer behavior did not create the plastics crisis and cannot solve it, but regulatory action can. Our voices are louder than our dollars, and we will use our power as citizens to make the necessary change.
Our Team
Jody Reiss
Co-Chair, Beyond Plastics Brooklyn
Chair, Education Subcommittee
Jody was a NYC elementary and middle school teacher for twenty six years. She enjoyed taking students camping (in Brooklyn!), birdwatching (in the concrete schoolyard) and on tree walks around the perimeter of the school, teaching them that nature is everywhere. In 2007 she became her school’s sustainability coordinator and established a student-led Green Team. After retirement in 2015, she established a mentorship program for Sustainability Coordinators, and worked with NYC Department of Education Office of Sustainability to provide guidance and trainings in schools throughout NYC.
Rebecca Davis
Co-chair, Park Slope Food Co-op Subcommittee
Rebecca is an artist and Somatic Practitioner based in Brooklyn. Her entrée into the world of plastics began a few years ago when she noticed the wire ties she had been collecting for a decade were being replaced by zip ties. Paying attention to plastic eventually led her to Beyond Plastics. She is new to activism but it is similar in many ways to the somatic work she teaches—the mind/body (and the planet) is an integrated unit and must be treated as one.
Lauren Schweikert
Communications Chair, Beyond Plastics Brooklyn
Lauren is a native New York City resident, with a deep appreciation for the environment. Lauren has over ten years of experience working in the field of communications. She is a Speech-Language Pathologist specializing in supporting people with neurodiversities and intellectual impairments. She is also a visual artist who dips into art activism with a focus on plastic pollution and climate justice.
Megan J. Wolff
Interim Advisor, Beyond Plastics Brooklyn
Megan lived and worked in NYC for over two decades until Covid prompted a move upstate. She is now the Policy Director at Beyond Plastics, but drops into Brooklyn at regular intervals to visit friends and relatives and to help out the Brooklyn-based chapter. She has a background in public health and policy, and specialized on the impact of plastics on human health.