Quitting Plastic

March 1, 2020
As the climate emergency worsens, more and more consumers are asking how to effect change on the individual level. Quitting Plastic identifies single-use plastics as a major contributor to a polluted planet and offers a room-by-room guide to cutting back on (or even cutting out!) plastics. Policy advisor Roldan draws on her own experiences of quitting plastic to suggest solutions in a range of difficulty levels, from purchasing reusable bags and coffee cups, to pressuring local governments to ban plastic straws, to making your own toothpastes and moisturizers. Also included are profiles of anti-plastic activists, such as a woman who began picking up litter on the beaches of Sydney and ended up leading city-wide initiatives to eliminate plastic waste from beach-adjacent stores and restaurants. Though Roldan acknowledges the challenges of giving up plastic, she shows little awareness of disabled people's needs for single-use plastics, instead framing bans on plastic straws as an unreserved positive. Despite this shortcoming, many readers who hope to begin lessening their plastic use will still find Roldan's book a useful guide.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)