Baltimore Is Trying to Crush Plastic Litter with a Landmark Lawsuit

Overview: The plastic litter crisis exploded with the introduction of single-use containers and bottles. The waste typically ends up in a lot of other places besides the garbage can or recycling bin — including Black neighborhoods.(WIB) – Since the first campaigns encouraging people to throw their trash in a can and not just anywhere, litter has usually been framed as a matter of personal responsibility. But with single-use plastic clogging waterways and drifting in huge patches in oceans, some governments want to hold to account the corporations that put all that inevitable waste in front of consumers to begin with. That now includes the city of Baltimore, which filed a major lawsuit last week against PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Frito Lay, and plastic manufacturers for what the city called “their significant roles in creating a plastic pollution crisis.”Last year, the state of New York sued PepsiCo over the plastic waste that chokes the Buffalo River — 17 percent of which, according to the lawsuit, came from Pepsi products. The Baltimore lawsuit marks the first time that a major U.S. city has gone after corporations over plastic waste.“We are continuously working to make Baltimore a greener, more resilient city that is ready to...