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The fight to protect our climate and environment now moves to the states. While the federal administration tries to keep New England tethered to out-of-state fossil fuel interests, Rhode Islanders are working for policies to protect our water and health from toxics, litter, and pollution. Here’s a preview of what Clean Water Action will be supporting this session!

The Rhode Island Bottle Bill

Plastic bottles blowing down the street into waterways. Glass bottles crushed into landfill cover. And contaminated curbside recycling loads costing municipalities piles of money in fees. What we’re doing isn’t working. The solution? A Rhode Island bottle bill in 2025.

Bottle bills work. 9 of the 10 states with the highest rate of recycling are bottle bill states, and while bottle bill states only represent 27% of US population, they account for 51% of all bottles recycled in the nation. Why? Because with a bottle bill, there is an incentive for consumers to properly sort and recycle beverage containers AND because the beverage containers remain segregated from potentially dirty or contaminated curbside recycling loads. This means less litter on our streets and in our waterways, less waste in the landfill, and more bottles being recycled into new bottles.

For over a year, a bipartisan legislative study commission has been listening to expert testimony about recycling and waste in Rhode Island and how other states set up their bottle return programs. Each hearing has reinforced this truth: Bottle bills work. Tell your state legislators it’s time to craft and pass a bottle bill for Rhode Island.

Microplastic Pollution

A 2023 study by URI estimated that the top 2 inches of the floor of Narragansett Bay contain over 1,000 tons of microplastics. Clean Water Action is advocating for a ban on products containing intentionally added microplastics and legislation requiring DEM to create a plan for drinking water testing and sampling to study the problem further. Tell your legislators you support action to fight microplastic pollution!

Getting Toxics Out of Menstrual Care Products

Is there lead, arsenic, PFAS, and other toxics in your tampons? Testing has found all of these substances and more! No one should have to wonder if the products we use for personal care are making us sick. Clean Water Action is supporting legislation to ban a wide range of harmful substances from menstrual care products in 2025.

Protecting Firefighters from Toxic PFAS

Let’s make sure we protect the first responders who protect us. Firefighter turnout gear can contain high levels of toxic PFAS, linked to a frightening rate of cancers in otherwise young, healthy firefighters. But safer next generation turnout gear will soon be available, and Massachusetts and Connecticut just issued bans on PFAS in firefighter turnout gear in 2024. Rhode Island should join them in 2025!

The 2025 legislation session will run until June. It’s always a sprint in Rhode Island to get our priorities across the finish line, so stay involved! We will keep our members updated with opportunities to call and email your legislators or to join us in the State House to meet with elected officials this session. We’re still planning to notch local wins for our health and environment this year, no matter who is in the White House.