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Flames shoot out across an area bigger than a football field, and the glare can be seen in the sky for miles. The sound is like hundreds of thousands of gas burners in concert, and a terrible smell permeates the air.

鈥淚t kind of looks like the end of the world at times,鈥� said Elida Castillo, program director of Chispa Texas, a Latinx grassroots organizing program. This apocalyptic scene from 2021 plays out regularly in San Patricio County in Texas at a plastics manufacturing plant operated by Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, a joint venture between ExxonMobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation. 

The Growth Ventures plant is the largest ethane steam cracker facility in the world, making nurdles鈥攕mall plastic pellets鈥攖hat are the building blocks for plastic manufacturing. Gulf Coast Growth Ventures did not respond to a request for comment, but , these ground flares are compared to 鈥渁 giant barbecue鈥� used to burn off excess gas whenever nurdle production is started or stopped.

Castillo says the flares usually last about two days, during which time local community members have reported their windows shaking. Community members see a correlation between the plant and worsening health, too. 鈥淲e have people who are dying from all types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, lung disease,鈥� Castillo says. 鈥淭he amount of kids with asthma in our communities 鈥� it鈥檚 always been high, but it just seems to increase every year.鈥� 

That鈥檚 in addition to the environmental impacts of plastic manufacturing. Castillo says most of the nurdles produced at the Texas plant are exported to China, where they are turned into plastic products. But in the past four years, in the Gulf of Mexico after having leaked from production facilities like Gulf Coast Growth Ventures. 

Gulf Coast Growth Ventures alone consumes to operate in the region, which has been under for the past two years. In March 2024, the region advanced into , which limit residential use of water sprinklers to one day every other week. Meanwhile, industries use up in Nueces and San Patricio Counties, according to the Texas Water Development Board.

The harmful intersection of environmental justice and plastics is keenly felt in communities of color like Castillo鈥檚, where these industries are disproportionately concentrated. Around the world, frontline communities like this one are paying the price for plastics every step of the way: the production, manufacturing, purported recycling, pollution, and ultimate disposal of single-use plastics. 

By the time that straw gets stuck in that turtle鈥檚 nose, it has left a wake of destruction in its path.鈥�

of plastic is produced from chemicals that come from fossil fuels. In addition to nurdles, San Patricio County is also a major exporter of liquified natural gas, . , in the name of energy security, locking countries into an even longer term commitment to fossil fuels (and their emissions and pollution).

, but its contents are still murky and hotly debated. 

Marce Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧 is the founder of , a grassroots organization that works with Latinx communities to protect coasts and oceans. She has participated in the plastics treaty talks and says that has become a symbol of the plastics crisis in the public鈥檚 mind, but the problem is much, much more pervasive.

鈥淭he fact is, by the time that straw gets stuck in that turtle鈥檚 nose, it has left a wake of destruction in its path,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is very sad, but that is only the last part of it.鈥�

Can Countries Agree on a Solution?

Nearly 500 miles east of San Patricio County, between Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and New Orleans, an industrial corridor along the lower Mississippi River has come to be known as 鈥淐ancer Alley鈥� because of the concentration of petrochemical plants and refineries鈥攁bout 150 industrial facilities鈥攁nd the resulting , including cancer.

鈥淭hose communities are 47 times more likely to have cancer. So for them, what they need is for us to produce less [plastic],鈥� says Erin Simon, vice president of Plastic Waste and Business at the World Wildlife Fund and 鈥攖he fourth of five rounds of treaty discussions, which took place in April 2024 in Ottawa, Canada.

The talks have been taking place since 2022, when the United Nations adopted a to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. Confoundingly, the talks in Ottawa and were afforded more access than journalists. By the end of the negotiations, there was : reducing new plastic production. .

鈥淲hen you walk into a bathroom and a tub is overflowing, you don鈥檛 start mopping. You have to turn off that tap,鈥� says Jackie Nu帽ez, the founder of The Last Plastic Straw and advocacy and engagement manager for the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

Activists see any form of recycling without reducing production as deeply ineffective at addressing the underlying injustices of plastic. Chemical recycling, for example (which is being touted by in Washington), breaks down plastic waste and can potentially remake it to the same quality as virgin materials鈥攁n arguable material improvement over . But critics the process is just , creating more toxic output鈥攁long with all the negative health effects that accompany it. 

Recycling can only be a small part of the solution鈥攊f at all鈥攂ecause it is premised on magical thinking.

Many advocates say there is no place in a circular economy for single-use plastic, decrying plastic recycling as the recirculation of toxic chemicals, which then accumulate and exacerbate the problems. 

Recycling can only be a small part of the solution鈥攊f at all鈥攂ecause it is premised on magical thinking, according to Vivek Maru, founder and CEO of Namati, which aims to advance social and environmental justice through the law. 鈥淭he U.S. has such an outsized influence on the global economy, and so I think it鈥檚 absolutely crucial for justice for communities here, and for communities abroad, that the U.S. take a bold stance and support a strong plastics treaty that is about reduction.鈥�

鈥淚 want to see everyone on the same page鈥濃�攚hether that鈥檚 banning plastics, or putting fees on plastic bags, or otherwise regulating them out of the picture鈥斺�渂ecause then we can see a real shift in the market-side dynamics of those materials,鈥� says Trey Sherard, the Anacostia Riverkeeper, who leads advocacy and outreach work to restore the Anacostia River in Washington D.C.

Maru and other environmental justice advocates, as well as environmental groups like Greenpeace, are calling for a strong treaty that will cut plastic production by by 2040. That means going a lot further than chemical recycling, which Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧 says 鈥渋s wishful thinking at best and predatory at worst.鈥� 

Global South Impacts

On the other end of the plastic process, countries in the Global South have long borne the brunt of plastic waste. The World Wildlife Fund that low-income countries incur a total lifetime cost of plastic 10 times higher than that of rich countries, despite consuming almost three times less plastic per capita. 

Another pressing question in the ongoing treaty negotiations is whether higher-consuming countries will take commensurate responsibility for the plastic they create, consume, and throw away. Despite accounting for only 15% of the world population, consumers in the Global North account for

鈥淥ne of the things we hear a lot is that we have to get this [treaty] done very quickly,鈥� says Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧, who attended all four sessions of negotiations to date鈥攊n Uruguay, Kenya, France, and Canada. 鈥淎nd I understand that it is a crisis, but I think that we have to do it the right way. Are we actually listening to the voices that are the most impacted? We have to look at the whole context of鈥擨 don鈥檛 like to say life cycle鈥攖he death cycle of plastics. We don鈥檛 want to be here 30 years from now looking at what could have been.鈥�

The last day of talks in Ottawa went until 3 a.m. Many hours of deliberation were spent in working groups on particular issues so the following plenary, where decisions can be made, started late and ran long.

鈥淲e were all very tired and very hungry. But, at the same time, there鈥檚 a lot of excitement,鈥� says Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧. 鈥淎ll options are on the table. We can still鈥攁nd we should鈥攄o right not just by our current generations but our future generations.鈥�

Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧 remains optimistic for a binding treaty that could put a cap on plastic production. At the same time, she is concerned that the process requires a consensus, not just a majority vote. 

鈥淲e have 170 parties, and we can have one or two that are just very vocal and throw a wrench in the work of everyone else,鈥� she says. 

With the last round of treaty discussions scheduled to take place in Busan, Korea, in November, the UN aims to have an agreement in place by the end of 2024, but there is a long way to go. It remains up in the air whether the treaty will include provisions to drastically reduce plastic production and address calls for distributive justice within and among communities disproportionately impacted by plastic.

Maru is advocating for a just transition, including a 75% reduction in plastic production that involves countries most burdened by plastic waste.

鈥淭here could be a real flourishing of industries that are more harmonious, more sustainable, to rise up and take the place of this toxic disposable industry that is poisoning all of us,鈥� Maru says, pointing to the examples of raffia bags and gourds informed by his work in Sierra Leone.

Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧 continues to work toward solutions to the plastic problem in her community, including by advocating for a reusable bag initiative. She recounts the mock concern, the 鈥渃ondescension and paternalism鈥� she and her fellow activists faced as lobbyists and pollsters told her that 鈥減eople are too poor to care.鈥� But these are the same people most affected by plastics, and

Back in San Patricio County, Elida Castillo and her community are fighting for more of a commitment to environmental justice. She said she is fighting against decades of misinformation and manipulation from the oil and gas industry, and now the petrochemical industry.

And the pushback is becoming more sophisticated everywhere, says Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧. 鈥淚n our everyday lives, we need to question things. Why are they speaking? What are they profiting? Where is this coming from? From me to you to everything we see, we have to become very critical and well-versed citizens and people.鈥�

The imperative of persisting through pushback to make solutions happen is universal. That鈥檚 true for everyone, not just those in communities feeling the harshest effects of these plastic injustices.  鈥淛ust because we have these facilities where we live doesn鈥檛 mean your voice can鈥檛 also help us,鈥� Castillo says. 鈥淲hat is happening where we live is impacting the world.鈥�

CORRECTION: This article was updated at 4:06 p.m. PT on July 23, 2024, to clarify that Guti茅rrez-Graudi艈拧 has attended all four treaty talks, not just two.聽Read our corrections policy here.