Meet Polluted Polly

Polluted Polly is on a mission to get toxic chemicals out of food packaging!

And she needs our help!

A passionate and persistent activist, Polluted Polly recently joined our team to help us get unnecessary toxic chemicals banned in food packaging materials nationwide. It is Polly’s mission to protect people, communities, and the environment from toxic PFAS chemicals that can leach out of packaging and last forever, polluting our drinking water, food, air, and soil.

Trash is bad, but TOXIC trash is even worse.

What are PFAS?

Giant chemical corporations make PFAS, or per- and polyfluorinated substances, for use in a wide range of products often to make them grease and water-resistant, nonstick, and stain-resistant—from food packaging to raincoats. And our exposure comes from multiple sources and routes. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because of their remarkable persistence and mobility—they are not known to break down in the environment and they move through soil to drinking water, threatening the health of people and wildlife.

What’s the problem with PFAS?

PFAS chemicals are dangerous! Mounting scientific evidence has shown that exposure to PFAS is linked to cancer, immune system suppression, reduced birth weight, birth defects, and other illnesses. The chemical industry is even polluting babies’ first meals. Our recent study found PFAS in 100% of breast milk samples tested.

Why are PFAS in food packaging? And how are we exposed?

Corporations are adding unnecessary PFAS chemicals to food packaging, making the trash from dining with disposables toxic. For decades, companies like Burger King have been supporting the use of toxic PFAS chemicals to make their food packaging resistant to grease and water.

These chemicals create a pathway of pollution from production to use to disposal. PFAS in food packaging can leach out and contaminate the food it touches. But even before that, manufacturers that create these chemicals and the factories that use them to make food packaging can also pollute surrounding communities. And, just throwing toxic packaging away is not a healthy solution, either—it can harm the areas where the trash is landfilled or incinerated.

Once the packaging is used and discarded, PFAS chemicals never break down, last forever in the environment, and ultimately find their way back into our bodies through our air, soil, water, and even food. Polly’s trash bin is overflowing with toxic packaging that pollutes the air and drinking water of communities around the world. The toxic trash that pollutes Polly is also polluting us. 

All of this makes Polly very sad…

But, there are solutions to this problem!

We can all try to do our best to protect our families by reducing our exposure to PFAS. But unfortunately, that will not be enough. And, frankly, the burden shouldn’t be on us!

What we REALLY need are these chemicals to be phased out and banned by local, state, and federal governments as well as by big retailers like Burger King.

And, the solution is YOU!!

When people like YOU come together around an important issue like this, BIG CHANGE can happen.

Did you know that after thousands of you supported our McDonald’s Mind the Store campaign, McDonald’s finally agreed to stop polluting the world with these chemicals by committing to ban them from their packaging?!

Will you help Polluted Polly?

Here are 3 ways you can help Polluted Polly fulfill her lifelong mission to #BanPFAS from food packaging.

1. Tell your members of Congress to #BanPFAS in food packaging

Bills to ban PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) from all food contact materials have been introduced in Congress.

Seven states have passed bans on PFAS in food packaging, as have McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Chipotle, Panera, and other chains. The next step is a national ban.

Will you join thousands of people calling on their members of Congress to act?

2. Share

Check out Polly on her new social media channel: TikTok @PollutedPolly!

Please FOLLOW and SHARE Polly’s messages widely with your family, friends, and colleagues! She will also make appearances on our other social media channels. #BanPFAS

Also find Polly on Instagram: @SaferChemicals | @ToxicFreeFuture

3. Donate

Polly will be traveling the country to spread the word about toxic PFAS. She will be urging retailers and policymakers to ban PFAS in food packaging. So far, she’s been to New York City and Washington, D.C., and this is just the beginning!

By donating today, you will help Polly visit more communities and gain even more reach and visibility, bringing us closer to achieving her goal of PFAS-free food packaging! 

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