Plastic bans in a post-COVID world

Over the last decade or so, a great deal of digital ink has been spilled about our ‘addiction’ to plastic. Bystepping the cliché, it’s true. For most of us, our daily lives are a cycle of buying and disposing of single-use plastics; we struggle to avoid it, even when we try. If we’re to cut it out of our lives sustainably, we have to start radically reimagining the way we consume. 

Single-use plastic items account for 50 percent of all plastic waste, and the wide majority of those plastics are not recycled or recyclable. If the world’s plastics were a nation, it’d be the fifth top carbon emitter. But the responsibility of our shared plastic crisis does not solely rest on the shoulders of the consumer, but rather the whole global supply chain.

“It cannot be right to manufacture billions of objects that are used for a matter of minutes, and then are with us for centuries,” says Roz Savage, an ocean rower and environmental advocate.

And most people tend to agree with Savage’s sentiment. According to a recent poll by the United Nations, three in every four people worldwide want single-use plastics banned as soon as possible. Eighty-five percent of survey respondents also support measures to hold manufacturers responsible for the reduction and recycling of plastic waste they create. 

It’s old news that plastics will never fully decompose. And humanity’s permanent garbage, unfortunately, is everywhere. By 2050, there’s slated to be more plastic in the oceans than fish. Several years ago, scientists found a plastic bag in the Mariana Trench–the deepest point on earth at 36,000 feet. Microplastics (the super tiny bits) accumulate in our waterways, soils, foods, and even our bodies. A study released this year found microplastics in human blood and in all regions of lung tissues sampled. 

The type of plastic detected? Polyethylene terephthalate, aka the stuff commonly used to make plastic bottles.

Health impacts from microplastic pollution are still widely unknown. Plastic’s only been around since the 19th century, and the size of microplastic particles present unique challenges to scientists studying their effect on living systems. It goes without saying, though, that tiny shards of synthetic material in our bodies can’t be a good thing. 

For those folks who’ve been (understandably) waving their hands in the air about humanity’s looming plastic crisis, increased momentum to ban single-use plastics is a good thing, but there remains a continually-growing hill to climb before we see a plastic-free future. 

Ordinances banning plastics were steadily gaining momentum across the US and world, with notably stringent policies coming out of places like California, the United Kingdom, and Australia. 

But then in early 2020, the world changed. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments all over the US put plastic bans on hold or rescinded them entirely, backtracking on regional progress and allowing room for plastic to swoop in. With quarantine and social distancing came disposable masks, the return of excessive takeout packaging, and more waste from online purchases. (Did you know your surgical mask is made from plastic materials?!)  As a result, consumers are back to feeling like they’re being flooded with single-use waste whether they like it or not.

Some lawmakers are circling back to plastics, though, and they’re also starting to tackle more than just the plastic straw in your ice tea or your plastic grocery bag. 

Just this month, Los Angeles County officials passed an ordinance mandating that virtually all restaurants phase out single-use plastics entirely by 2023. This follows California’s recent move to put more teeth in its plastic policy. Last year, the Golden state unveiled a new package of laws that will promote increased transparency around plastic packaging, implement industry accountability measures, and incentivize a circular economy for glass. Californians will also decide on a state-wide initiative to curb plastic waste on this November’s ballot. If passed, the act would mandate packaging be recyclable, reusable, refillable or compostable by 2030, and single-use plastic production be reduced by 25 percent by 2030.

However, laws restricting plastic consumption are still met with heavy opposition from industry lobbyists. And as other areas of the country and world stall on reducing plastics, local action is only a drop in the bucket of a much deeper problem.

Similarly, it’s no secret that plastic bans can be a double-edged sword. Beyond possible burdens to low-income communities, outright bans can be difficult for differently-abled people who rely on single-use items, and as we’ve seen over the last two years, sometimes we do need disposables for public health reasons. Despite good intentions, bans can also have unintended consequences. Research from the University of Georgia recently examined how city or county bag bans can inadvertently cause people to purchase other plastic bags instead of reusing ones they get for free, thus contributing to the plastic economy. 

But leading experts urge people to stay the course. Bans are not perfect, but they are a start and a possible foundation for scalable action to reverse course on our culture of plastic hyperconsumption. California’s bag ban alone decreased plastic bag consumption by over 70 percent.

In a COVID world, many of us remain skeptical of things returning totally back to “normal” anytime soon. But as coffee shops return to filling reusable mugs and governments refocus on the Big Plastic Elephant in the room, the environmentally conscious among us can hope that a “new normal” will continue to bring forward solutions to plastic waste–both locally and globally.

“If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refurbished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production.” – Pete Seeger, Garbage