(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – A great egret flies above a great blue heron in a wetland inside the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge in Trenton, Mich., on Oct. 7, 2022. President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday, Dec. 30, announced a finalized rule for federal protection of hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, rolling back a Trump-era rule that environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) Pennsylvania ranks near the bottom in a national report evaluating efforts to combat plastic pollution. July is Plastic-Free month, and the Ocean Conservancy’s “United States of Plastics” report gives the state a score of just one point five out of five. Dr. Anja Brandon co-authored the Ocean Conservancy report and says Pennsylvania has laws backing harmful chemical recycling flagged in their findings. She suggests the state could follow the lead of nearby Great Lakes and Northeast states by cutting back on single-use plastics. Brandon adds that turning to safer, proven alternatives could quickly benefit Pennsylvania’s environment. While Pennsylvania has not yet enacted statewide bans or mandates banning plastic outright, it has created a framework for reducing plastic pollution through targeted legislation. In June, Representative Maureen Madden introduced House Bill 1547 to ban single-use plastic bags in retail establishments. According to PennEnvironment, 40 municipalities have adopted local bans on plastic bags in Pennsylvania.