As we all try to stay safe, employed, and alive during the COVID-19 pandemic, the plastics industry has seen the pandemic as a sweet opportunity to negate important policies that limit the spread of single use plastics into our communities and waterways.

On the federal level, The Plastics Industry Association has pressured the Department of Health and Human Services to publicly support single use plastics by declaring that plastic is safer than consumers’ own bags, without any evidence backing up that claim. And the very newly formed (so new they don’t even have a website) lobbying group- The Virginia Food Industry Association-has asked Governor Northam this week to veto the plastic bag fee bill recently approved by the Virginia Legislature. Single use plastic bag legislation has been debated at the Virginia General Assembly for over a decade while those of us doing the actual work pulling them out of storm drains, creeks, trees, and rivers has gone on much longer. This is a time sensitive issue, Governor Northam must sign or veto the plastic bag fee bill (SB 11) by Saturday April, 11 at 11:59 pm.

Localities would not have the authority to enact a single use bag fee before January 2021. The locality must also provide a certified copy of the new ordinance to the Tax Commissioner at least 3 months prior to the fee being enacted. There will be no plastic bag user fee in Virginia in 2020 which means the Commonwealth will not see any bag fees until well into 2021. And this is not a bag BAN! Even if this bill went into effect May 1, plastic bags would still be available to those who wanted them. Vetoing these bills now does nothing to protect human health during the pandemic. It is nothing more than a ploy by the plastic industry to continue to bolster their profits while citizens are left to continue deal with the problems industry has created.

There are several studies that proponents of single use plastic bags (also known as manufacturers) cite for their claim that reusable bags can be a reliable carrier of COVID-19. None of these studies, however, support those opportunistic claims. In 2010, the American Chemistry Council (a plastics lobbying group) funded a study at the University of Arizona. This study analyzed 84 bags with the claim, “Large numbers of bacteria were found in almost all bags and coliform bacteria in half.” What they leave out when citing this study is that the bags didn’t contain any bacteria or E. Coli that will actually make a person sick. The senior staff scientist at Consumers Union said, “A person eating an average bag of salad greens gets more exposure to these bacteria than if they had licked the insides of the dirtiest bag from this study.” A study from last year looked at 30 plastic reusable bags and found coliform bacteria on half the bags and E. coli on a few of the bags. The bags in this study had food in them and the bags were not washed or sanitized, so it is not a surprise that bacteria was found because the study did not eliminate the opportunity of cross contamination.

In 2018, researchers sprayed a fake norovirus on reusable shopping totes and then tested every surface the person touched during their time in the grocery store. Shocker, researchers found traces of the fake virus on the surfaces the person touched, with the highest concentrations on the shopper’s hands, the checkout stand, and the clerk’s hands. What this study highlights (Spoiler Alert!) is the importance of handwashing and hygiene.

The most recent study focused on how long coronavirus can survive on hard surfaces has shown that the virus can survive on plastic for up to three days in laboratory settings. That means the virus can survive on single use plastic bags or reusable nonwoven polypropylene bags for three days. Your non-plastic (cloth) reusable bags can and should be washed after every use, and reusable bags made from plastic (coated) should be disinfected after every use outside your home.

The Food Industry Association (the national arm of the Virgina Food Industry Association) has been circulating documents filled with outright lies. This quote, “The COVID-19 virus is just one of many pathogens that shoppers can spread unless they wash the bags regularly, which few people bother to do. Viruses and bacteria can survive in the tote bags up to nine days, according to one study of coronaviruses” is in one of their few public documents. When you read the study they cite (read here), the study did not include COVID-19 and makes no mention of any kind of bags. It does say that if COVID-19 acts similar to its cousin we can expect it to stay on surfaces, “such as metal, glass, or plastic for as long as nine days”. If they were truly worried about the safety of grocery store employees they would be focused on providing their employees with protective gear and requiring customers to bag their own groceries to limit human contact.

If public health was their main concern they would make their information available to the public and not just high paying corporations with a long existing adversarial relationship with environmental health. If you’re interested, we encourage you to try to read any of their position papers on single-use plastic bags, paid leave legislation, or tobacco sales, here is the link to their website. Before you go there, we’ll let you know that you can’t read their position papers (except COVID-19 related papers) without an active paid membership to their organization.

Evidence of industry efforts to profit off the pandemic can be found on their industry funded website used to disseminate false information about the supposed benefits of plastic bags. At www.bagtheban.com they began their fear mongering regarding the coronavirus on February 21^st sharing an article titled, “Could the coronavirus in China cause a shortage of reusable bags? Experts say it’s Possible” On February 28^th they shared an article calling for New York’s bag ban to be delayed because of fears over spreading coronavirus. Governor Cuomo of New York delayed the bag ban until May and New York is the epicenter of coronavirus in the US. This stream of articles has continued almost daily to flood the public with misleading statistics and factual inaccuracies.

Our neighbors in Washington, D.C. have taken a different approach. Rather than banning reusable bags, they explicitly allow reusable bags to continue to be used, recommend people bag their own groceries regardless of the type of bag they use to limit contact between customers and employees, and have also temporarily lifted the $.05 user fee. Our colleagues at Surfrider have provided some excellent tips for using reusable bags during the pandemic;  you can find the full list here. If you bring your own bags, bag your own groceries- keep grocery store employees safe by minimizing physical contact.

We hear a lot of talk from the industry about how “single use plastic bags are necessary to protect grocery store employees.” We are HUGE fans of those who are working at grocery stores right now while we are able to work from home and pound out angry letters about things like this —THEY ARE THE HEROES who are making an average of $11.54 an hour,  and most don’t even have health insurance or paid sick leave.  And, we believe that grocery store employees should be classified as “frontline workers” which would give them even more protections in the workplace. However, the grocery industry doesn’t appear to be interested in THAT level of care of their employees. At a time when grocery store profits are soaring through the roof, these billion-dollar industries should be using their resources to promote their workers’ continued protection and care, rather continuing the endless fight against cleaner communities.

In Virginia, as in almost every state, grocery stores are essential businesses during this time, but, their employees are not designated as “frontline workers”, and in fact 98% of employees in places like Walmart and Giant and Target and Costco are not even eligible for the Families First Emergency Response Program enacted on March 18^th. The United Food & Commercial Workers 400 union is pushing to have grocery store, pharmacy, and food production workers classified as frontline workers during the pandemic. The Virginia Food Industry needs to get busy advocating to have their members designated as frontline workers, giving them access to PPE and free child-care during the pandemic. It seems that would be a much better use for their lobbying efforts than trying to roll back a law that doesn’t even go into effect for 9 months, and even then, would need to be enacted by each county and who knows when THAT will happen, if ever.

Now is not the time to backslide on environmental policies that protect the health of all Virginians. We need to take our health advice from medical professionals, not from industries that have a proven 60-year track record of concealing the damaging impacts of their industry. Now is not the time to allow the petrochemical industry to dictate the best health practices.

We urge the Governor to not waiver when he sets his pen to SB 11/HB 534, go ahead and sign it and if this is still an issue in January of next year, let’s revisit it. We’ll be the first ones in line to help work out a solution we can all literally live with.

Contact your elected officials and let them know you stand for healthier and cleaner communities!

Senator Ebbin has fought for a decade for plastic bag legislation, let his office know you are still behind his efforts! district30@senate.virginia.gov (571)-384-8957

Delegate Lopez was a champion for plastic and litter legislation at the General Assembly, let him know these issues are still important to you! DelALopez@house.virginia.gov. (571) 336-2147

Contact the Speak of the House, Eileen Filler-Corn so she knows these are issues Virginians are concerned with. DelEFiller-Corn@house.virginia.gov  (571) 249-3453

Matt Strickler, the Secretary of Natural Resources can be contacted through email- Natural.Resources@governor.virginia.gov

Contact the Governor’s office through their constituent services portal here and give them a call at 804-786-0000

Let the Lieutenant Governor’s office know you want the plastic bag fee bill to be signed into law! ltgov@ltgov.virginia.gov  (804) 786-2078

Contact YOUR elected officials using this link provided by Virginia Grassroots.

-Jen and Zach