Letter to the Editor: Let’s Protect Our Waterways

Last week the article “Single-use plastic has reached the world’s deepest ocean trench” published by UNEP-WCMC reminded readers that our waste is killing our wildlife. Our economy encourages us to make, use and toss at the greatest possible speed. Often, we don’t think about getting our coffee to-go in a foam cup, or food in a foam takeout container.

Currently, 70 million plastic foam cups are estimated to be disposed by Americans every day. Of these, about one-third end up in our waterways: rivers, lakes and especially oceans. As a canoeist who has canoed many lakes in rivers in Wisconsin, I believe that we must stop damaging our waterways.

To protect our wildlife and waterways we need to dramatically reduce our plastic waste and we can start by banning our foam cups and takeout containers here in Wisconsin.

Lilian Jenssen

Madison, Wis.