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Industry head Radoszewski testifies in Congress about benefits of plastics during COVID-19

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Tony Radoszewski, the president and CEO of the U.S.-based Plastics Industry Association, appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on the Environment on July 7.

Tony Radoszewski, the president and CEO of the U.S.-based Plastics Industry Association, testified before Congress in Washington, DC about the benefits of plastics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on the Environment in a virtual transmission on July 7, Radoszewski refuted attacks on a material and industry that have played a critical role in the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus.

Tony Radoszewski

“The idea that single-use plastic medical products…are ‘life-threatening’ contradicts the advice of this Subcommittee, which recently urged the President to use all his power to increase production and distribution of ‘masks, face shields, surgical gowns, isolation gowns, goggles, disposable caps, disposable shoe covers, and disposable gloves,’” Radoszewski told the subcommittee.

The July 7 briefing of Congress was entitled “Plastic Production, Pollution and Waste in the Time of Covid-19: The Life-Threatening Impact of Single Use Plastic on Human Health.”

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Radoszewski was the only witness invited to appear on the pro-plastics side, and thanked Ranking Member Fred Keller, a Republican Representative for Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, for giving him the opportunity describe the plastic industry’s effort to meet unprecedented demand for personal protection equipment (PPE), as well as components for ventilators and other medical devices.

“Plastic is one of the most advanced and useful materials humanity ever created, contributing to longer, healthier lives for people across the globe. Without it, disease and hunger would be more common, not less,” Radoszewski said.

Addressing environmental concerns, Radoszewski explained, “All materials require energy and other resources in their manufacture, and all produce waste. However, over its entire lifecycle in most applications, plastic requires less energy and conserves more resources than glass, paper or aluminum, saving fuel, energy and money, especially for busy working families.” 

He added that jobs and economic growth are also health issues. “I’m proud to represent nearly one-million plastic employees in the United States,” Radoszewski said. “Our industry contributes hundreds of billions of dollars of economic value and good tax-paying jobs.”

Radoszewski’s testimony is available at this link.

The Plastics Industry Association is headquartered in Washington, DC.

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