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The environmental and economic reality of plastics pollution is a pressing global crisis that has outpaced our understanding of its impacts on our waterways, food web, air quality and human health.

our understanding of its impacts on our waterways, food web, air quality and human health. Research must accelerate to engage society with accurate and compelling information and dialogue that will change behavior, practices and regulations. From climate impacts of its production, consumption and disposal to environmental justice implications around the globe, no one organization is capable of solving this. It is critical to convene, communicate, collaborate and to thereby accelerate the development of both knowledge and solutions within this space.

CONCLUSION: Engineered plastics are a valuable category of materials that have many truly important uses, especially in the health care industry. This lesson is made even more acutely obvious during the COVID-19 viral pandemic. Nonetheless, we are facing a looming environmental crisis of staggering proportions, and it is critically important for URI to address these challenges – as part of a larger global effort to close knowledge gaps and to build partnerships, strategies and solutions. The environmental and economic reality of plastics pollution is a pressing global crisis that has outpaced

Photo by Melissa McCarthy

URI Initiative Plastics: Land to Sea SPRING | 2021 Page 11