Make Our Public Lands Plastic-Free

Surfrider is committed to ending plastic pollution, particularly through eliminating single-use plastics. Doing away with the sale and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging across our public lands will help protect some of America's most biodiverse and treasured natural environments, and be a step toward reducing the harm done by plastic manufacturing, litter and disposal.

One June 8, 2022, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued Order 3407 directing the Department of the Interior (DOI) to reduce the sale and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of phasing out single-use plastic products on DOI-managed lands by 2032. This encompasses all national parks, monuments, sanctuaries, other federal lands and DOI offices. Surfrider applauds the directive and also continues to advocate for a much faster implementation with an emphatic focus on our National Parks System.

To that end, as DOI finalizes how NPS and other Interior bureaus and offices will meet the order’s requirement, we are petitioning Secretary Haaland, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz and National Park Service Director Charles F. Sams III to require a strong, speedy implementation plan for our national parks that does away with single-use plastic items including plastic and polystyrene food and beverage containers, bottles, straws, cups, cutlery, and disposable plastic bags. 

Eliminating single-use plastics will reduce plastic pollution and save money for parks, visitors, concessionaires and park partners, while also advancing the Biden administration’s goals for addressing environmental justice and the climate crisis. 

Additionally, this effort represents a small but important step for the National Park Service to honor the legacy of Indigenous stewardship and deepen its commitment to a more socially and environmentally just future.

Make your voice heard here!

Image: Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Manitou Islands, September 2015. Credit: NOAA