Marine plastic pollution is widely acknowledged as a global problem that requires cooperation from a wide range of groups: governments, producers, consumers, and researchers. By virtue of their core regulatory powers, governments play a primary role in solving this problem.
We recently conducted a
global review to see if and how governments have responded to plastic pollution. We found a clear upward trend over the last decade in the number of policies and laws enacted to reduce plastic pollution—at global, regional and national levels. For example, prior to 2000, five binding international treaties were reached that are applicable to the plastic pollution problem, but during the following 20 years, countries agreed to 28 non-binding and applicable polices. Similarly, national governments have increasingly introduced relevant policies, mainly focused on plastic carrier bag pollution. And while we have not been able to measure them worldwide, there are numerous reports citing examples of local regulations enacted to address some form of plastics (typically bans or fees on bags). The results are available in an online, searchable
Plastics Policy Inventory that stores almost 300 policy documents from 2000 to mid-2019.
A Pause on Government Responses
From municipal regulations enacted in the 2000s (Fromer, 2010), to the United Nations’ “war on ocean plastic” and the launch of the
#CleanSeas campaign in 2017, the problem has risen on governments’ agendas (Carlini and Kleine, 2018). The
U.N. Oceans Conference, scheduled for this June, was expected to feature a wide range of additional commitments from governments to address plastic pollution, with perceived momentum for action. But the pandemic has disrupted the momentum, raising fears that plastic pollution will increase, because of increased consumption of single-use plastic items (e.g., bags, disposable cutlery, and takeout containers) and suspension of plastic pollution reduction policies.
Our observations indicate that the pandemic’s impact on international and national efforts to reduce pollution is complex. For example, the
European Union ban on some single-use plastics will continue despite calls to suspend it, and in July, the E.U. proposed a levy on plastic waste to help fund national pandemic recovery efforts. The United Kingdom has delayed its
ban on plastic straws until October. While
Senegal’s ban on most single-use plastics took effect in April, it has relaxed application of the law in response to the pandemic. The increase in improper disposal of personal protective equipment has led
France to consider increasing fines for littering, which could decrease the amount of plastic pollution generally.
The Case of Local Government Responses in the U.S.
However, it now seems that the pandemic has pushed the pause button on local governments’ momentum, particularly if we look at the case of single-use plastics in the United States. Since March,
state and local governments across the country have rolled back policies meant to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags. Governments have delayed new bag bans and fees, suspended existing policies, and in some places banned the use of reusable bags altogether. Notably, California and Massachusetts suspended single-use bag bans, and Maine and New York delayed the adoption of new bans. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Illinois prohibited the use of reusable bags. The Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner rescinded the state’s orders in June in favor of revised guidelines for groceries and pharmacies that don’t include restrictions on single-use plastic bags.
In parallel, the pandemic has focused dialogue in the U.S. on the role of single-use plastic products in preventing transmission of the novel coronavirus. For example, in March, the Plastics Industry Association (PIA) sent a
letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stating that reusable bags posed a health risk and that single-use bags were the “most sanitary choice.” In response,
scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have criticized the studies cited and questioned their relevance to the pandemic. In July, the president and CEO of the PIA
testified before the House Subcommittee on Environment that single-use plastic can be used to fight the coronavirus and “plastic saves lives.”
Driving the Debate: The Emerging Science of Reusable Plastics
and COVID-19 Risk
The pause observed in the U.S. reflects the debate on the risk of COVID-19 transmission from reusable materials (i.e., surface transfer of the virus that causes COVID-19). Evidence to date suggests that the virus that causes COVID-19 is
primarily spread person-to-person, not through surface transfer. More than 125 public health experts recently issued a
statement that reusables, including bags, are safe during the pandemic when basic hygiene is used. The survivability and potential infectivity of the virus depends on many factors—such as bag material, the viral load deposited on the bag, the washing habits of the user, and temperature of bag storage—but so far research is consistent in suggesting that the virus can survive on both plastic and cloth for days. Common-sense measures that will reduce risk include washing or disinfecting bags, storing bags away from members of the household, washing hands and wearing masks when handling bags, and bagging one’s own groceries.
At the same time, single-use plastic bags carry their own potential risks associated with COVID-19. In addition to becoming a vector for transmission between clerk and consumer, bags could pose risks to the public if they are disposed of improperly and become litter contaminated with the virus. For example in surveys of litter in streams around Durham, NC, plastic film—including shopping bags and their fragments—constituted the majority of litter found. In addition, communities near plastic manufacturing facilities
experience high rates of respiratory illnesses, and people living along industrial corridors, where those manufacturing facilities are located, have disproportionately high rates of death from COVID-19.
Of course, as new information on COVID-19 transmission emerges and the pandemic passes, we would expect local government responses in the U.S. to change. U.S. municipalities have the opportunity to reassess risk and refine best practices for preventing COVID-19 and reducing the use of single-use plastic bags.
About the Authors
Michelle Nowlin
is clinical professor of law at Duke Law School and the Nicholas School of the Environment and co-director of the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic.
Zoie Diana
is a Ph.D. student studying plastic pollution in the Marine Science and Conservation and Environmental Health and Toxicology departments at Duke University and is a former student consultant at the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic.
Amy Pickle
is director of the State Policy Program at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and a senior lecturing fellow at Duke Law School.
John Virdin
is director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Program at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.
