{"id":5659,"date":"2020-10-20T18:43:57","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T23:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecooptimism.com\/?p=5659"},"modified":"2020-10-20T18:43:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T23:43:57","slug":"pandemics-and-us-deregulation-be-damned-plastic-bans-are-not-getting-derailed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecooptimism.com\/?p=5659","title":{"rendered":"Pandemics and US deregulation be damned. Plastic bans are not getting derailed."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NYS's<\/a>

It’s back, baby<\/p><\/div>\n

As I wrote about<\/a> several months ago, single-use plastic bans and fees have taken a back seat to the urgency of the COVID pandemic. First, there was the mistaken idea that plastic bags were necessary for sanitary reasons. Bag manufacturers did their best to take advantage of this. (As they have for decades as shown in the appropriately if cutely titled report, “Talking Trash: The Corporate Playbook of False Solutions<\/a>,\u201d from the Changing Markets Foundation.) And then there was just the fact that there have been more pressing things for governments to deal with.<\/p>\n

The glut of oil resulting from less travel and manufacturing has created a need for the fossil fuel industry to find other ways to utilize those \u201cstranded assets,\u201d and the primary direction is to increase plastic production, whose raw material is oil. But in Earther, Gizmodo\u2019s sub-blog, Bruce Kahn documents<\/a> the potential for \u201cpeak plastic\u201d and a counterreaction in which governments are creating more bans and fees. (The US has, unsurprisingly, given our current regime, been an exception, but one hopes that will begin to change on January 20th<\/sup>.)<\/p>\n

As evidence \u2013 maybe \u2013 of this, the U.S. Plastics Pact<\/a> has brought together some of the major users of plastics, Coca Cola, Nestle and Unilever, with notable environmental organizations such as the Ocean Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund to phase out unnecessary plastic packaging and make sure other single-use plastics are recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025. Forgive my cynicism, but I\u2019m both dubious of this actually happening and suspicious of the terms recyclable, compostable and reusable.<\/p>\n

But this blog is about optimism.<\/p>\n

The big news this week, here at least, is that New York State\u2019s ban<\/a>, delayed from earlier in the year, is finally going to get enforced. Celebrating this belated event, I\u2019ve added a few more entries in my Plastics Bans Worldwide database<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s ban moves forward: https:\/\/environmentaldefence.ca\/2020\/10\/09\/canada-ban-six-single-use-plastic-items-next-year\/<\/a><\/p>\n

England bans single-use plastic straws, stir-sticks and cotton swabs with plastic stems: https:\/\/www.treehugger.com\/plastic-straws-banned-in-england-5080319<\/a><\/p>\n

Scotland goes further and bans plastic straws, plates, knives and forks and polystyrene cups: https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/environment\/scotland-ban-plastic-single-use-straws-cutlery-cotton-buds-england-b990587.html<\/a><\/p>\n

New Jersey\u2019s comprehensive plastic ban, called “This is the single most comprehensive plastics and paper reduction bill in the nation,” by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator and Beyond Plastics<\/a> President Judith Enck, is a step closer to becoming law: https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/new-jersey-plastics-ban-2647824015.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2<\/a> New York State\u2019s plastics ban also calls for a 5-cent fee on paper bags. NJ goes a step further with a ban on them.<\/p>\n

Foam packaging and containers haven\u2019t, until recently, been as scrutinized, but that\u2019s changing. NYC banned Styrofoam takeout containers and packaging peanuts last year, but it has sizable loopholes and enforcement is spotty. The latest ban, the first one by a state, comes from Maryland: https:\/\/www.ecowatch.com\/maryland-foam-container-ban-2647845717.html<\/a><\/p>\n

California, ever the environmental leader, is adding a new approach. Not exactly a ban and a bit off the mark considering the problems of plastic recycling, is incrementally requiring recycled content in liquids containers: https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2020\/09\/25\/california-passes-first-in-nation-plastics-recycling-law\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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