Between PPE and Takeout, Are Single-Use Plastics Back to Stay?
Why you can trust us
COVID-19 is how the U.S. disposes of waste. It is also threatening hard-fought victories that restricted or eliminated single-use disposable items, especially plastic, in cities and towns across the nation.
is analyzing how the pandemic has altered waste-management strategies. , an annual campaign launched in 2011, is a good time to assess what has happened to single-use disposable plastics under COVID-19, and whether efforts to curb their use can resume.
From plans to pandemic
Over several decades leading up to 2020, many U.S. cities and states worked to reduce waste from single-use disposable objects such as straws, utensils, coffee cups, beverage bottles, and plastic bags. Policies varied but included bans on , , and straws, along with taxes and fees on and .
around plastic waste have evolved quickly in the past several years. Pre-COVID-19, 鈥淏ring your own鈥� tote bags, mugs, and other foodware had become part of daily life for many consumers. Innovative startups targeting reusable foodware niches include , which partners with cafes, enabling customers to rent stainless steel to-go mugs, and , which picks up dirty dishes from dine-in restaurants and to-go food outlets, cleans them with high-tech equipment and returns them ready for reuse.
Just before COVID-19 lockdowns began in March 2020, the New Jersey Senate that would have made the state the first to ban all single-use bags made of paper or plastic. And U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico and U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal of California introduced the 鈥攖he first federal measure limiting use of single-use disposable items.
COVID-19 shutdowns all of this. In just a few weeks, in states that had recently banned them. Even before lockdowns were official, restaurants and cafes started such as coffee mugs, reverting to plastic cups and lids, wrapped straws, and condiment packets.
By late June, cities and states had almost 50 single-use item reduction policies across the U.S.鈥攎ainly plastic bag bans. The pandemic also spurred demand for single-use personal protective equipment, such as and plastic gloves. These items soon began appearing in municipal solid waste streams and were .
The plastic pandemic
With legislation restricting disposables suspended, many food vendors and grocery stores have shifted entirely to disposable bags, plates, and cutlery. This switch has raised their and cut further into their already low margins.
Grocery stores have plastic bag usage. Households are generating up to than they did pre-COVID-19. Anecdotal reports indicate that these waste streams contain .
The recycling industry has on the impacts of more single-use bags and higher residential waste volumes. Waste industry workers, who have been uniformly declared essential, work in closed spaces with many other people, so even if surface transmission of coronavirus is not a serious risk, the pandemic has in the waste industry.
Hygiene: A red herring
The main rationale that states, cities, and vendors have offered to justify switching from reusables back to disposables is . Plastic packaging, the argument goes, protects public health by keeping contents . Also, discarding items immediately after use protects consumers from infection.
This narrative handily dovetails with the plastics industry鈥檚 to slow or derail bans and restrictions. The industry has turning the clock back toward single-use disposable products.
In a March 2020 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Plastics Industry Association argued that single-use items were the 鈥渕ost sanitary鈥� option for consumers. Industry representatives are the Break Free From Plastics Act.
However, studies show that these products are than reusable alternatives with respect to COVID-19. The virus as it does on other surfaces such as stainless steel. What鈥檚 more, studies now cited by the plastics industry focus on such as E.coli and listeria bacteria, not on coronaviruses.
Viewed more holistically, plastics generate pollutants upstream when their raw materials are extracted and plastic goods are manufactured and transported. After disposal鈥攖ypically through landfills or incineration鈥攖hey release pollutants that can seriously affect , including hazardous and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
All of these impacts are especially harmful to minority and marginalized populations, who are already to COVID-19. In our view, plastic goods are far from being the most hygienic or beneficial to public health, especially over the long term.
Building resilience
Crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic make it hard to see . No longer having to remember reusable tote bags or coffee mugs can be a relief. But the quick return of single-use disposable products shows that recent restrictions are precarious, and that industries don鈥檛 cede profitable markets without a fight.
Waste reduction advocates, such as and , are working to gather data, educate the public, and prevent decision-making about plastics that is based on perception rather than scientific reasoning. On June 22, 115 health experts worldwide released a statement arguing that reusables are .
Some governments are taking notice. In late June, California on single-use plastic bags and requirement for plastic bags to contain 40% recycled materials. Massachusetts , lifting a temporary ban on reusable bags.
For the longer term, it is unclear how COVID-19 disruptions will affect consumerism and waste disposal practices. In our view, one important takeaway is that while mindful consumers are part of the solution to the plastics crisis, individuals cannot and should not carry the full burden.
We believe that at the and levels, policymakers need to build cross-jurisdictional alliances, recognizing shared interests with the , and emerging businesses such as Vessel and Dishcraft. To make progress on reducing plastic waste, advocates need to reinforce measures in place before the next crisis hits.
This article was originally published by . It has been published here with permission.
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Jessica Heiges
is a Ph.D. candidate in environmental science, policy, and management at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Kate O鈥橬eill
is a professor of global environmental politics at the University of California, Berkeley.
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