(Plastic waste in a Fairfax County stream. Photo credit: Clean Fairfax)

We have scheduled a meeting with Representative Jennifer Wexton’s (Virginia’s 10th district), environmental staffer. If Jennifer Wexton is your Congressional Representative, this is your chance to let her know you want her to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act! Our meeting is scheduled for October 7 at 3:30 pm on Zoom. Fill out this form to let us know you want to join!

If you’re reading this, you probably know plastic is pervasive in the environment and no amount of clean ups could ever remove what is already out there or the plastic waste that will come in the future. We’ve been talking a lot about the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (BFFPPA), now it is time to act! While our focus is typically litter and waste issues in Virginia, the BFFPPA would establish a nationwide framework to provide permanent solutions for the plastic waste we struggle with everyday in Virginia. This piece of federal legislation would provide long term solutions for the waste and litter problems we are struggling with in the Commonwealth. 

The BFFPPA (H.R. 5845 and S. 3263) has been introduced thanks to the effort of our partners The Surfrider Foundation and Oceana. This act has 88 co-sponsors in the House and 10 co-sponsors in the Senate. Only two elected officials from Virginia have signed on as a co-sponsor, Representative Gerry Connolly, from Virginia’s 11th district was one of the early cosponsors of this bill, and Representative Elaine Luria, from Virginia’s 2nd district. 

Plastic waste is a problem throughout Fairfax County. At Clean Fairfax we spend our days in streams with plastic waste from Centreville to McLean and down to Alexandria, every waterway in the county is impacted by plastic pollution. In our stream monitoring work throughout Fairfax, over 60% of the litter we count and categorize is single use plastic. While Virginia is slow in enacting the policies necessary to end the plastic crisis, the BFFPPA provides the action necessary to stop the overwhelming flow of plastic waste into our communities and waterways.

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act would provide permanent solutions for the plastic waste we struggle with everyday in Virginia. This act would: 

Information from Surfrider’s BFFPPA Bullet Point Summary.

1. Require product producers to take responsibility for collecting and recycling materials. This would encourage varying producers to cooperate through Producer Responsibility Organizations.
2. Require nationwide container refunds. This act will create a $0.10 national refund requirement for all beverage containers. There are only ten states with container refund bills, those states average a recycling rate of over 60%. States without a container refund bill, Virginia included, have bottle recycling rates of 20%.
3. Beginning in January, 2022 the most common polluting single use plastic items will be phased out. The items would include lightweight plastic carryout bags, food and drinkware made of expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam), plastic stirrers and plastic utensils, and straws would be available by request only.
4.  A nationwide fee for carryout plastic bags. 
5. Plastic beverage containers will have to use an increasing percentage of recycled content in their bottles.
6. The EPA will establish standard recycling and composting labels for products and receptacles to facilitate proper sorting and disposal.
7. This act would stop the US from sending plastic waste to developing countries that do not have the infrastructure to handle the waste, which is known to be a major contributor to ocean plastic pollution.
8. Temporarily pauses new plastic manufacturing facilities. This legislation would provide environmental agencies to investigate the cumulative impacts of new and expanded plastic-producing facilities on the air, water, climate, and communities before issuing new permits to increase plastic production. The legislation would also update EPA regulations to eliminate factory-produced plastic pollution in waterways and direct the EPA to update existing Clean Air and Clean Water Act emission and discharge standards to ensure that plastic-producing facilities integrate the latest technology to prevent further pollution.