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The Department of the Interior said this week that sales of plastic water bottles and other single-use plastic products will be phased out in national parks and public lands across the United States over the next decade.

Home Secretary Deb Haaland, announced the measure on Wednesday. As manager of 480 million acres of federal land, he said the department has an obligation to play a leading role in reducing plastic waste, including food and beverage containers, bottles, straws, cups, utensils and disposable plastic bags.

“As the guardian of the nation’s public lands, including national parks and national wildlife refuges, and the agency responsible for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants and habitats, we are uniquely positioned to do better for our Earth,” he said in a statement.

The Home Office’s order reflects intense global pressure to address plastic waste pollution and the challenges of getting rid of it. recycling aloneit wasn’t enough to stay ahead of the US mountains of plastic, hampered by deficiencies in collection and transportation.

The department took action as a response executive order To cut waste from President Biden.

By order of the Ministry of Interior, in the first step, the offices and offices of the ministry will be required to report how they will phase out single-use plastic products by 2032. They will also be asked to come up with ideas on how to change public behavior, such as adding fountains and bottle filling stations.

Oceana, a marine conservation organization, estimates that the Department of the Interior’s move will prevent “millions of pounds of unnecessary single-use plastics in our national parks and other public lands.”

“By definition, our national parks are protected areas,” said Christy Leavitt, Oceana’s plastics campaign director. said in a statement“We couldn’t protect them from plastic for very long,” he added.

Single-use plastic water bottles have been the target of policymakers for years. In 2011, the Obama administration encouraged the National Park Service to stop selling them. But the Park Service under the Trump administration, ended the policy in 2017saying it’s forbiddenbrought out the healthiest drink” while allowing sugary drinks and adopting only two dozen of its 417 National Park Service sites.

The Interior Ministry’s order is in line with similar measures announced by countries and companies to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills and waterways. Tens of millions of tons of plastic pollutes the oceans every year, images of marine life suffocated with plastic rings and died from swallowing plastic waste.

Environmentalists, companies, and policymakers have approached the problem from many angles, from cafe counters to legislatures.

Paper straws have replaced plastic straws. coffee shops and restaurants in Britain. Companies developed soap leaves Comes in a pack to replace laundry detergent in heavy plastic jugs. Some global hotel chains miniature toilet bottles phased out, install pump dispensers instead. beverage companies get rid of plastic rings It links six packs of soda and beer together and replaces them with cardboard.

In the UK, the fee for shops plastic bagsand authorities banned the manufacture of products containing plastic micro beads. In April, the government set taxable limits on the amount of non-recycled plastic packaging that can be used in a product to encourage companies to use recycled materials.

In March, representatives of 175 countries agreed to begin writing a letter. global agreement this will restrain the explosive growth of plastic pollution.

of the European Union ban The ban on single-use plastics, including straws, plates, bags, cotton buds and utensils, identified as the most common plastic waste on coastlines, went into effect in 27 member states last July.

After about a year, alignment has been patchy, despite efforts towards a unified approach. Piotr Barczak, head of waste policy at the European Environment Bureau, a network of environmental organisations, said industries and manufacturers of affected products are holding back.

“In countries where you can no longer buy these items, yes, of course you see a lot less on the beaches,” he said. “I don’t put the responsibility or blame on people. It is up to the authorities to regulate the manufacturers and those who put it on the market. It is the duty of the executive authorities to supervise it,” he said.