The 2021 General Assembly is coming to an end and there were definitely environmental successes. We will forever remember the 2021 General Assembly by the words of Senator Chap Petersen, “The great polystyrene compromise of 2021” and Senator Hanger’s defense of chemical conversion, “I believe my friends in the environmental community will, once they understand what this actually does, I will be nominated by the Sierra Club as Environmentalist of the year”. This was a legislative session full of concessions. We expect there to be some compromise between legislators and concessions from the environmental community; we don’t expect our legislators to provide a Sophie’s Choice to appease the petrochemical industry.

“I believe my friends in the environmental community will, once they understand what this actually does, I will be nominated by the Sierra Club as Environmentalist of the year”

Sophie’s Choice- The “Great” Compromise

The bill to ban single-use expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage containers (HB 1902) and the bill to classify chemical conversion as a manufacturing process (SB 1164) were connected from the start, despite reassurances from elected officials. The Coalition for Consumer Choice, an industry funded lobbying group that includes the Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA) and  the American Chemistry Council (ACC), led the attempt to stop HB 1902 and were the main proponents of SB 1164.

On the Coalition for Consumer Choice Opposition to HB1902 to oppose HB 1902:  “Passage of HB 1902 will diminish the opportunity to attract Advanced Recycling technology to Virginia. In order to continue to attract Advanced Recycling investment in Virginia, it is essential that there be a supportive regulatory environment for the industry. Banning polystyrene, a feedstock for Advanced Recycling, would discourage investment in this 21st century technology in the Commonwealth.” We’ve written at length as to why these claims are simply not true, and you can read about them here. Chemical conversion (advanced recycling) should be subject to the same regulations as every other solid waste management facility in Virginia.

The connection of these bills is not based on speculation, it was confirmed by Senator Petersen on the Senate floor- “To the extent that we get this bill off the floor and pass it, I think it’s important that there will be a reciprocal understanding on the other side of the hall that recycling also needs to be respected and the recycling industry needs to be respected.” The senator continued with, “There’s no such thing as a quid pro quo in this business, but I will tell you that this is part of a large compromise”.

The large compromise or as we like to call it, “holding good legislation hostage to clear a path for bad legislation,” was that the Senate would not pass the ban on styrofoam food and beverage containers unless House members caved to their pressure to classify chemical conversion as a manufacturing process. Immediately after the chemical conversion bill passed, the ACC published a press release exclaiming how excited ExxonMobil, Shell Chemical, and Chevron-Phillips were to see their efforts rewriting state laws are succeeding around the country.

Chemical conversion passed the Senate with a 34 Y- 4 N vote and passed the House with a 90 Y- 8 N vote. 34 Virginia state senators and 90 Virginia state delegates supported a bill championed by the most polluting and plastic-creating corporations on the planet as a means to solve the plastic pollution crisis- Fox, meet henhouse. There is no indication from industry that they will be taking consumer plastic waste (the stuff we find most in streams and at cleanups) such as water and drink bottles, plastic wrap or film at any of these facilities despite what the legislators believe. 

It is a huge win for single-use expanded polystyrene food and beverage containers to be banned in Virginia and this win should be celebrated. Although it will take several years before these products are phased out in Virginia, this advancement was not seen as a realistic possibility under any circumstances even three years ago. Several groups across the state were involved in this campaign, led by Environment Virginia. Despite the setback against chemical conversion, the opportunity for better policies is not over. We can all work together to protect Virginians as the plastics industry attempts to expand chemical conversion facilities across the Commonwealth.

Intentional Balloon Releases

HB 2159 the bill to ban intentional balloon releases has passed the House and Senate, but not the version we were hoping to see, this bill was watered down in the name of “compromise”. As the bill reads now, individuals 16 years of age or older are liable for a $25 fine per balloon intentionally released.

The environmental community was hoping to see a blanket ban on intentional balloon releases and a $250 fine, which received accusations of targeting kids with questions like, “are you going to fine a six year old who accidentally releases a balloon?” Obviously the goal is to not target loose-gripped children; the purpose of the legislation is to solve a problem. The most effective way to create widespread community change is with legislation that circumscribes the problem and enforcement to ensure legislation is followed.

Any fines collected from this penalty will be deposited into the Game Protection Fund, which we expect to see exactly zero dollars from this legislation. Why don’t we expect to see these fines issued? The previous Virginia law allowed for the intentional release of 49 balloons an hour, with a $5 fine for any additional balloons released. Fines were supposed to be deposited into the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Endowment fund, overseen by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). DWR could not tell us how much money they’ve collected from these fines. The state fiscal impact statement declares, “Historically, DWR has not collected any penalties from this law”.

You’ve seen intentional balloon releases at college and high school football games or at weddings when 100s or 1000s  or more of balloons are let go in the name of “celebration.” These are egregiously bad–akin to just deliberately dropping 1000s of pieces of trash in the ocean. It is a good thing that you can’t release 49 balloons an hour without penalty anymore, but Virginians did not receive the bill that should have been passed. 

Illegal Dumping

HB 1801 which addressed fines for illegal dumping, was also introduced and passed but was also watered down in the name of compromise. The initial proposed legislation would have increased the minimum penalty to $2,500 and the maximum to $5,000 in addition to increasing community service hours in lieu of jail time from 10 hours to 40 hours. The bill that passed mandates a $500 minimum and a $2,500 maximum with no change in community service hours. 

The most glaring issues with this bill is that it provides no enforcement mechanism and most importantly it does not address the root cause of illegal dumping. Illegal dumping occurs because of a lack of access to waste management facilities; people need to be provided with more options for dealing with the kind of trash that can’t be put out on the curb. The ability to dispose of big household items and trash responsibly should not be dependent on a person’s financial ability to pay. If we want a clean Commonwealth we need to prioritize policies that will facilitate better behaviors.

WE Are So Close To The End–one way or another!

SB 1164, the bill that will classify chemical conversion as a manufacturing process will be heard on Wednesday afternoon (2/17) by the House Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee. This bill will exempt polluting facilities from permits mandated for similar facilities under Virginia law. Waste processing facilities- incinerators, landfills, and waste transfer stations- are all regulated by the same Virginia laws. Chemical conversion facilities, which are essentially the same as a solid waste incinerator with just slightly different technology but all the same materials going in (solid waste in the form of plastic) should be no exception!

The chemical and plastics industries should not write our laws especially when they have a long track record of environmental terrorism! This bill does not and will not remove plastic pollution from waterways and communities because it does NOT take household plastic water and soda bottles from your recycling bin, or from our creeks and streams–instead it trucks in industrial plastic from container ships, increasing plastic production and creating a new fossil fuel source. You can read about this bill in more detail here.

Here is how you can help stop this today!

Contact YOUR elected state representative and tell them why you oppose allowing corporate polluters to influence our state’s laws. You can access a one page talking point document here.

Virginia Grassroots provides access to an excellent spreadsheet with all the contact information for Virginia’s elected officials. Follow this link to get their email address, phone number, Twitter handle, and Facebook page information. You can also provide written testimony for the committee hearing with this link!

If you have ten minutes, send the members of the House Agriculture Committee an email or give them a call and tell them to vote no on SB 1164. Tag members of the House Ag Committee in Tweets to keep the conversation public and spread awareness. Virginia will not be controlled by the plastics industry! The Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club has an excellent thread on Twitter (@vasierraclub) that you can help spread!

If you only have two minutes, our colleagues at Waterkeepers Chesapeake have provided a form to contact your elected officials about SB 1164. Take a couple minutes and fill out this form so your elected official knows you oppose SB 1164!

Here are some sample Tweets

“Please vote no on #SB1164, don’t sell Virginia’s future to the petrochemical industry. Protect vulnerable communities!”

“Would you put a chemical conversion facility in your district? Then vote no on #SB1164 which is a sneaky way of allowing this sort of thing with minimal permitting”

“Chemical Conversion should be regulated with the same standards as other solid waste management facilities in Virginia. Vote no on #SB1164”

“The solution to the plastic pollution crisis is reducing production, not creating a new source of plastic! Vote no on #SB1164”

Here is a sample email

“Good afternoon XXXX,
I am your constituent at (insert address). I oppose SB 1164 to classify chemical conversion as manufacturing. These facilities should be subject to the same regulations as every other solid waste disposal facility in Virginia. Virginians have worked extremely hard to ensure our future is not intertwined with fossil fuels. This bill does not and will not remove plastic pollution from waterways and communities, it increases plastic production and creates more waste. Reducing regulations for chemical conversion facilities in Virginia is not only a danger to our air and water quality, fossil fuel and chemical facilities around the country disproportionately impact the most vulnerable communities”

Written testimony can look something like this

“I strongly oppose SB 1164 because it will enable dangerous, polluting fossil fuel facilities to proliferate across Virginia. This bill does not and will not remove plastic pollution from waterways and communities, it actually increases plastic production and creates more waste. It enables harmful, polluting facilities to expand across Virginia with the most severe impacts placed on vulnerable populations with fewer restrictions and reporting requirements of a Landfill for similar.
Thank you to Delegate Plum for striking HB 2173 from the docket and we hope it is the will of the committee to oppose SB 1164 as well. Thank you.”

The General Assembly has been extended and there are a few bills we’re hoping to see over the finish line.

Expanded Polystyrene Food and Beverage Containers: HB 1902 which bans Single Use Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), usually called Styrofoam, food and beverage containers has made it through the House. The bill will probably be heard early next week in the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee. As you know from our many posts and pictures–we find so much EPS in our rivers and streams! Our colleagues at Environment Virginia have led the push to ban EPS food and beverage containers, even collecting more than 50,000 supporting signatures in Virginia! Use this link provided by Environment Virginia to tell your state senator to go foam free! You can read more about their Wildlife Over Waste campaign here. 

Intentional Balloon Releases: HB 2159 bans the intentional release of balloons. The balloon release bill is also set to be heard by the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee next week. Released balloons are killing wildlife, 51 species of seabirds are known to ingest balloon waste. Over 50% of all sea turtles have ingested plastic, often mistaking balloons and plastic bags as jellyfish, a favorite food source. Environment Virginia has provided a contact form to tell your state senator to save our wildlife from balloons!

For more detailed information on why Virginia needs to ban EPS food and beverage containers and intentional balloon releases, you can read this white paper we authored with Environment Virginia and the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center.

Tree Replacement and Conservation: SB 1393 Gives a locality the ability to exceed general requirements in its tree replacement and conservation ordinances. This bill also directs the development of a stakeholder group that will provide recommendations to the state and local governments to promote tree conservation during development. Increasing tree cover has wide ranging benefits; it helps to mitigate flooding, reduce pollution and litter runoff, improves soil quality, provides habitat for wildlife, increases property values, and improves air quality. This bill has passed the senate and has made it to the house floor.

Increased Littering Penalty: HB 1801 this bill increases the minimum fine for dumping or disposing of litter, trash, or other unsightly matter on public or private property from $250 to $500. Originally this bill would have increased the maximum fine from $2,500 to $5,000 and increased the number of community service from 10 hours to 40 hours in lieu of jail time. This bill has made it through the house and is waiting to be heard by the Senate Committee on Transportation. 

Chemical Conversion: SB 1164 that will classify chemical conversion as a manufacturing process instead of a Solid Waste facility /process will be heard by the House Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee next week. We’ve written extensively about this bill- for more detailed information about how the petrochemical industry, being led by the American Chemistry Council, is attempting to change Virginia’s laws to benefit powerful polluting corporations read our recent blog post and expect to hear more about it in the near future.

Crossover, which is a like a legislative version of the “Red Rover, Red Rover” game has happened at the General Assembly and all bills have transferred between the House and Senate.

SB 1164 the bill that will classify chemical conversion as a manufacturing process instead of a Solid Waste facility /process will be heard by the House Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee on Monday (2/8) morning! We’ve written extensively about this bill- for more detailed information about how the petrochemical industry, being led by the American Chemistry Council, is attempting to change Virginia’s laws to benefit powerful polluting corporations check out our most recent blog post.

Despite the many assurances by the members of the Senate’s Agricultural Committee who get all their talking points from the American Chemistry Council apparently, this bill does not and will not remove plastic pollution from waterways and communities, it actually increases plastic production and creates more waste. It enables harmful, polluting facilities to expand across Virginia with the most severe impacts placed on vulnerable populations with fewer restrictions and reporting requirements of a Landfill for similar.

In addition, Chemical Conversion is not economically or environmentally sustainable and this bill is being used to kill HB1902 to ban EPS food and beverage containers. The solution to the plastic crisis is reducing waste at its source, not dangerous downstream approaches.

Delegate Plum had a companion chemical conversion bill (HB 2173), but because of public outreach, Delegate Plum requested his bill be stricken from the docket! Grassroots advocacy works! We need to recreate that success one more time. Today is the last chance to take a couple minutes to let your elected official know you oppose SB 1164 and chemical conversion! Send your elected official an email or a Tweet so they know where their constituents stand. While you’re at it thank Delegate Plum for removing HB 2173 from consideration! There won’t be any public comments during the committee hearing, but you can provide written testimony by following this link. You can access a 1 page talking point document with this link.

Virginia Grassroots provides access to an excellent spreadsheet with all the contact information for Virginia’s elected officials. Follow this link to get their email address, phone number, Twitter handle, and Facebook page information.

Here are some sample Tweets

“Please vote no on SB 1164, don’t sell Virginia’s future to the petrochemical industry. Protect vulnerable communities!”

“Would you put a chemical conversion facility in your district? Then vote no on SB 1164 which is a sneaky way of allowing this sort of thing with minimal permitting”

Here is a sample email

“Good afternoon XXXX,
I am your constituent at (insert address). I oppose SB 1164. Virginians have worked extremely hard to ensure our future is not intertwined with fossil fuels. Enabling fossil fuel facilities to expand in Virginia is not only a danger to our air and water quality, fossil fuel facilities around the country disproportionately impact the most vulnerable communities”

Written testimony can look something like this

“I strongly oppose SB 1164 because it will enable dangerous, polluting fossil fuel facilities to proliferate across Virginia. This bill does not and will not remove plastic pollution from waterways and communities, it actually increases plastic production and creates more waste. It enables harmful, polluting facilities to expand across Virginia with the most severe impacts placed on vulnerable populations with fewer restrictions and reporting requirements of a Landfill for similar.
Thank you to Delegate Plum for striking HB 2173 from the docket and we hope it is the will of the committee to oppose this bill as well. Thank you.”

This short legislative session has been a real test on our one last good nerve.

In reference to SB 1164, the bill that would classify chemical conversion (chemical recycling) as a manufacturing process, the bill co-patron had this pithy quote aimed at environmentalists who have been working overtime presenting testimony and data for why it is a bad bill: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.

He’s right, it is a cigar, because chemical conversion facilities in Virginia will give Virginians cancer.

At that same hearing of the Agriculture, Conservation, and National Resources Committee, another sitting Virginia state senator quipped to the environmental community we didn’t know what we were talking about in reference to SB 1164. Senator Hanger’s full quote was, “I believe my friends in the environmental community will, once they understand what this actually does, I will be nominated by the Sierra Club as Environmentalist of the year”. To insinuate the environmental community does not understand the severity of allowing the petrochemical industry to have free rein in Virginia is insulting. We spend our days advocating to protect Virginia’s residents and environment, while Senator Hanger is pushing forward a bill that was hand delivered by the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

What’s our beef with the ACC? I hope you’ve got some time to read.

The ACC is the lobbying arm of the chemical industry- representing companies like, BASF Corporation, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, DowDupont, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, Shell Chemical LP, Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA Inc.

Despite several other legislators’ condescending admonishments, we are not anti-plastic. Plastics are an important invention in our lifetime and absolutely have their place in the world; sterile plastics are necessary for medical purposes; they help reduce fuel costs by making cars and planes lighter. However, we are anti-plastic pollution and we are anti-plastic LIES. These chemical conversion facilities will not reduce plastic pollution in Virginia, they simply create a new source of plastic production and a new fossil fuel produced in toxin emitting facilities. The ACC is making a concerted effort to introduce similar legislation in state houses around the country, Virginia is their latest push.

The ACC Member Companies Promoting Chemical Conversion

BASF Corporation is currently working on expanding their plastic production, their global expansion will increase their plastic output by more than 750,000 tons every year.

In 2018, Chevron Phillips began operating a new $6 billion ethane cracker to manufacture virgin plastics in Texas. This facility can produce 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene, which is used to make plastics. This facility will turn the ethylene into plastic resin to be shipped around the world. The local economic development authority approved the highest tax abatement possible under Texas law. This abatement will eliminate 90% of the company’s property tax liability for the facility, a multi-million dollar savings for Chevron Phillips.

In 2018, DowDupont announced a plan to invest $100 million over two years to increase their virgin plastic production at their Sabine River Works plant. Dow is the world’s largest producer of polyethylene, which is used to make grocery bags and plastic containers. Dow is expecting to boost their plastic production by 1.4 million tons every year!

At the end of 2019, ExxonMobil began construction of a new $7 billion plastic production plant in Texas. In 2020, ExxonMobil began construction on a new $2 billion plastics polymer unit, that will produce more than 400,000 tons of plastic polymers every year. These facilities were granted several hundred million dollars in tax breaks over the life of the facilities.

All of these companies include increasing virgin plastic production as part of their business plan. It is in their investor relations reports, it is in their press releases. These companies are not focused on reducing plastic pollution, they are focused on growing profits and shareholder returns by any means necessary. You can tell them we said it.

These companies have been lobbying the federal government to pass the Recover Act as a solution to the plastic pollution crisis. What does the Recover Act actually do? The most important aspect of the Recovery Act is that polluting corporations would contribute $500 million that would be matched with a $500 million grant from the federal government (read that as $500 million paid by taxpayers to prop up extremely profitable businesses) which would be used to improve domestic recycling infrastructure. Continuing to throw money at this problem without addressing the root problem has created this disaster, WE NEED TO PRODUCE LESS PLASTIC! The new chemical conversion facility being built in Virginia has a price tag of $31 million. The Recover Act could only fund 32 of these facilities and leave no money to address the glaring problems of domestic waste disposal infrastructure. Chemical conversion will increase the amount of plastic waste we have to deal with and do absolutely nothing to reduce the plastic pollution crisis.

Alliance to End Plastic Waste

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste is an industry funded advocacy group they claim is being used to reduce plastic pollution around the world. The top polluting corporations, including the ones mentioned in this post, have all committed to provide a combined $1.5 billion over a five year period to combat plastic waste in the environment. The same companies that are currently spending at least $20 billion to increase their plastic production rates. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste gave $5 million to Renew Oceans to develop a trash interceptor in the Ganges River. Chevron Phillips used a video of Renew Oceans workers in the Ganges in a sustainability promotional video. This project was touted by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste as, “One of the best projects”. When this project was announced it was expected to remove 450 tons of plastic waste every year. This project was ended after less than two years and less than one ton of plastic waste removed from the Ganges.

The Chemical Conversion Business Model

Braven Environmental is currently constructing a chemical conversion facility in Cumberland County, VA. It is going to cost $31.7 million to bring this facility online and received a $150,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and $65,000 from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. The public information on Braven is pretty minimal, but we found a presentation they gave for the Southeast Recycling Development Council about their Zebulon, NC facility that provides helpful facts to understand their business model. 

This facility in North Carolina is not recycling plastic waste generated in the state. Braven has a 20 year contract with Sonoco Packaging, and international company who pays Braven to take their plastic waste. Sonoco Packaging is shipping plastic waste into North Carolina. Braven hasn’t actually released any data about their products, but have said their new Virginia facility will produce 14.4 million gallons of PyChem. PyChem is a fossil fuel that is going to be burned, generating greenhouse gas emissions. THIS IS A PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTION FACILITY. Our elected officials are selling us out to the fossil fuel industry.

Nexus is a company that is often highlighted as a success story by the ACC. What is Nexus actually doing? Nexus has a chemical conversion facility outside of Atlanta and a partnership with Shell. The ACC really likes to say Nexus is taking plastic waste from Atlanta area neighborhoods, but are they? Nexus sources more than 75% of their feedstock from regional plastic brokers (these are companies that sell plastic scrap). Nexus does say they participate with the Hefty Energy Bag program where residents of Cobb county can purchase orange Hefty bags to fill with difficult to recycle items. The Hefty Energy Bag program was the greenwashed brainchild of Dow, one of the leading plastic pollution offenders. Nexus has not released any information about how much plastic waste the Hefty program has collected.

This program also forces people who want to recycle to pay more money to recycle products manufactured by the wealthiest corporations on the planet, because they have to buy the specific bags for their plastic to be collected. Nexus also participates in Atlanta’s CHARM program. The CHARM program is a city funded drop off station where people can PAY to leave their difficult to recycle items (plastic film, styrofoam, etc.). Again, this is another tax on regular folks who want to do the right thing. People are essentially paying Shell to take their plastic waste back.

Agilyx, located in Oregon, is another “success” story that the ACC likes to talk about. In 2016 this plant was shut down because it was unable to remain profitable producing fuels from plastic and retrofitted to produce styrene. In 2018, this facility sent 49,000 tons of waste styrene, which is a known toxin, to be burned in cement kilns in low income communities. The minimal “high quality” styrene this facility produces is sent to a facility in Louisiana to produce polystyrene. In 2019, more than 30% of polystyrene this plant produced was lost during processing. For every 1 kilogram of Styrene the Agilyx produces, it generates 3.23 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

This change in strategy has not helped Agilyx become a profitable company, as of September 30, 2020, Agilyx had a negative income of $5,961,000. This company received over half a million dollars from the state of Oregon and continues to operate in the red. The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives has a great case study about chemical conversion, and we highly encourage you to read it.  

Reduce Plastic Waste at its Source

So, if we don’t want chemical conversion facilities, what do we want? Polluting corporations must play an active financial role in reducing plastic pollution. They must change their business model so the onus to clean up this mess is not left on regular people and cash strapped municipalities. We want the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (BFFPPA). The BFFPPA is the solution to the plastic pollution crisis that the ACC is trying to stop. Why do they want to stop the BFFPPA? Because it will force ACC member companies to play an active role in cleaning up the mess they have created. The BFFPPA will implement a nationwide bottle deposit program, ban common single use plastics, place a 3 year moratorium on permitting new plastic manufacturing facilities, and implement extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR would mandate that these companies are responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products. If a company produces 1,000 tons of plastic, they will be mandated to collect 1,000 tons of plastic. Not allowing corporations to skirt their duty of being responsible members of society is the answer to the plastic pollution crisis.

In 2020 Shell had earnings of almost $5 billion. In 2019, ExxonMobil has profits over $14 billion. In 2019 BASF had over $10 billion in profits. In 2019, Chevron Phillips had almost $3 billion in profit. In 2019, Total Petrochemical & Refining has close to $12 billion in profits. These are the wealthiest corporations on the planet, their wealth has been built by regular citizens across the planet. Fairfax County is expecting a budget shortfall of $40 million dollars in FY 2022, why are we asking cash strapped localities to prop up the profit margin of wealthy corporations?

We’ll end this by asking you who you believe? Are you going to take the word of corporations that have spent decades polluting the planet making absurd comments, or people who are actively working to protect our communities and natural spaces from corporate polluters who are only looking to extract profits. Our elected officials think the petrochemical industry is going to save us, we’ll point to climate change and the disturbing amount of plastic pollution overwhelming the planet to say they won’t. Because sometimes a cigar is just a (cancer causing) cigar, right? Right.

Let your Virginia elected official know you oppose SB 1164!

The collective advocacy efforts of groups across Virginia has stalled SB 1164, the bill to classify chemical conversion (chemical recycling aka burning plastic to create more plastic to burn) as a manufacturing process. Tomorrow, this bill will be heard by the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee . This action alert is going to be short and sweet; you can read our blog on this bill and chemical conversion here. For more in depth information on chemical conversion you can read Deception by the Numbers from Greenpeace and All Talk and No Recycling from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.

In short, the American Chemistry Council- the lobbying arm for DowDupont, Exxon, and Bayer among others- is attempting to change Virginia’s laws to enable dangerous, polluting, carbon intensive chemical conversion facilities to proliferate across the Commonwealth. Chemical Conversion is not economically or environmentally sustainable and this bill is being used to kill HB1902 to ban expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage containers. The solution to the plastic pollution crisis is reducing waste at its source, not dangerous downstream approaches. You can access opposition talking points for SB 1164 here. 

We have until tomorrow afternoon to let the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee know that this bill is bad for Virginia!

Here is how you can help stop this today!

Contact YOUR elected state Senator tonight or tomorrow morning and tell them why you oppose allowing corporate polluters to influence our state’s laws. 

Virginia Grassroots provides access to an excellent spreadsheet with all the contact information for Virginia’s elected officials. Follow this link to get their email address, phone number, Twitter handle, and Facebook page information. You can sign up to speak at the hearing by following this link! 

Here are some sample Tweets

“Please vote no on SB 1164, don’t sell Virginia’s future to the petrochemical industry. Protect vulnerable communities!”

“Would you put a chemical conversion facility in your district? Then vote no on SB 1164 which is a sneaky way of allowing this sort of thing with minimal permitting”

Here is a sample email

“Good afternoon XXXX,

I am your constituent at (insert address). I oppose SB 1164. Virginians have worked extremely hard to ensure our future is not intertwined with fossil fuels. Enabling fossil fuel facilities to expand in Virginia is not only a danger to our air and water quality, fossil fuel facilities around the country disproportionately impact the most vulnerable communities”

For those of you who have been following our blog, we write a lot about how the fossil fuel industry attempts to greenwash their products to trap communities into a future surrounded by fossil fuels. This push is coming to Virginia in the form of chemical conversion facilities, referred to by the fossil fuel industry as “chemical recycling” or “advanced recycling”. This is a greenwashed way of saying they are going to melt plastic which will then be burned for dirty energy or to make more plastics. Most of these technologies are still in the lab or pilot phase and none have demonstrated they are environmentally safe or economically sustainable, but Virginia is close to deciding they want to lock Virginia into a fossil fuel future. 

Right now, the  House is debating HB 2173, which would change the definition of “advanced recycling” (chemical conversion) from solid waste management to manufacturing. This bill has a companion in the senate (SB 1164) waiting to be heard in the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources committee and while we’re not exactly sure when this bill will be heard, you can preemptively let your senator know how much you hate it! They thought they could sneak this through by making it a simple semantics issue–a change of definition that seems so green!

HB 2173 and SB 1164 are backed by the largest polluting petrochemical companies in the world- Exxon, Shell, Dow, BASF- to create facilities that will introduce a new stream of toxic waste into Virginia. It would enable harmful, polluting facilities to get a toe-hold in Virginia with the most severe impacts placed on the most vulnerable populations in low income counties. Chemical Conversion is not economically or environmentally sustainable and this bill is being used to kill HB1902 to ban expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage containers. The solution to the plastic pollution crisis is reducing waste at its source, not dangerous downstream approaches.

HB 2173 and SB 1164 would exempt chemical conversion facilities from the Virginia Waste Management Act, which means they would not need to apply for a solid waste permit, streamlining their construction. This means that while it takes some doing to put say, a landfill, in your neighborhood, it would be a heck of a lot easier to put THIS in your neighborhood and this is a lot more dangerous to your health! 

Here is how you can help stop this today!

Contact YOUR elected delegate today, this weekend- whenever you can, contact them in multiple ways- call, email, Twitter, and Facebook- before we turn Virginia into a series of cancer clusters. This bill made it through the subcommittee and committee in one day and has already had two readings on the floor. The Monday (1/25) session is our chance to have this bill removed from consideration. There are opposition talking points attached here. Use these talking points to create your individualized message. There’s a sample email and couple sample Tweets at the bottom of this blog.

Virginia Grassroots provides access to an excellent spreadsheet with all the contact information for Virginia’s elected officials. Follow this link to get their email address, phone number, Twitter handle, and Facebook page information. 

Because this bill has been pushed through with the backing of the most powerful and polluting petrochemical companies in the world, we’ve been left with serious questions that are yet to be answered. These are great questions to ask you elected officials!

1. What does this definitional change do? And why is it necessary? Will this change enable chemical conversion facilities more access to economic development grants and reduce their environmental oversights?
2. What makes this different from other chemical processing plants?
3. Why is it needed if chemical conversion is already here? There is a chemical conversion facility being built in Cumberland County.
4. The company that owns the facility in Cumberland county has a contract for 20 years with an international packaging company therefore shipping plastics into Virginia to be chemically converted here. When will this facility ever accept household plastics? How does this help keep plastics out of Virginia’s environment?
5. Would these facilities be mandated to use plastic waste from Virginia?
6. Will this bill wipe out the hard fought HB1902 which will ban the use of expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage containers? The American Chemistry Council appears to think that is the case.
7. Why would Virginia want to create new petrochemical fuel sources after passing the Virginia Clean Economy Act?

Chemical conversion is a polluting and carbon intensive process that is riddled with system failures and will make the plastic pollution and climate crisis worse. About 50% of the carbon content of waste plastics is typically lost as greenhouse gases during chemical conversion. 79% of waste to energy facilities (another term for plastic to fuel) are located in low-income and communities of color. These facilities expose residents to harmful particulates that cause cancer, respiratory illnesses, and neurological disorders.

Now we are down to the wire at the General Assembly with two bills that could seriously damage Virginia’s air and water quality, skirt regulatory and permit requirements for a chemical plant (because make no bones about it–that is what this is) with this seemingly innocuous definition bill with the word “recycling” in it. If this bill passes there is a real danger to have five more chemical conversion facilities built in Virginia.

Here are sample Tweets

“Please vote no on HB 2173, don’t sell Virginia’s future to the petrochemical industry. Protect vulnerable communities!”

“Would you put a chemical burning plant in Mosaic District? Then vote no on HB 2173 which is a sneaky way of allowing this sort of thing with minimal permitting”

Here is a sample email

“Good afternoon XXXX,

I am your constituent at (insert address). I am very concerned to see HB 2173 moving through the General Assembly with such ease. Virginians have worked extremely hard to ensure our future is not intertwined with fossil fuels. Enabling fossil fuel facilities to expand in Virginia is not only a danger to our air and water quality, fossil fuel facilities around the country disproportionately impact the most vulnerable communities” 

General Assembly Action Alert!

The 2021 General Assembly is moving fast and we’ve got another action alert! House Bill 2159, which will ban the intentional release of balloons is going to be heard by the House Agriculture and Natural Resources- Natural Resources Subcommittee tomorrow (1/20). The subcommittee hearing starts at 7 am. Pushing through the ban on intentional balloon releases will be a great way to start the day! The current Virginia law allows for 49 balloons to be released every hour. The 2020 bill to ban all intentional releases failed in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, it is critical we all make our voices head this year!

The General Assembly is all virtual this year, and that makes it much easier to be an active participant- no more rushing to drive to Richmond to make sure your voice is heard! Use this link to provide written comments about why you want intentional balloon releases banned in Virginia. You can also use the same link to sign up to speak during the committee meeting. There are full talking points provided by Christina Trapani of Eco Maniac Company and Mark Swingle of the Virginia Aquarium & Science Center available here! If you want to see comments other people have made, follow this link!

Summary of HB 2159

Release of balloon prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits any individual 13 years of age or older or other person, including a corporation, from intentionally releasing, discarding, or causing to be released or discarded any nonbiodegradable balloon outdoors and provides that any person convicted of such violation is liable for a civil penalty of $25 per balloon, to be paid into the Game Protection Fund. Current law prohibits a person from knowingly releasing 50 or more such balloons within an hour and sets the civil penalty at $5 per balloon, with the proceeds deposited into the Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Endowment Fund.

Conservation Easements:
Although not litter or plastic specific there is another important bill that is supported by the Virginia Conservation Network also being heard in this hearing, and we encourage positive comments for it as well. HB 1760 ensures that courts protect conservation easements when the land is sold to a new owner. This would close the loophole on people taking advantage of conservation easements who then go against everything they stand for. Conservation easements are designed to protect land, and they specifically prohibit development. We once saw a speaker at a conference brag about getting Virginia law changed so she could develop land that had been bought at a reduced price because of a conservation easement. This easement became a full on tourist attraction, rather than a farm designed to protect Virginia’s natural spaces. Protect the Occoquan Watershed has a great write up about conservation easements. You can read talking points here for HB 1760 provided by the Piedmont Environmental Council and the Nature Conservancy on the Virginia Conservation Network website.    

To put on everyone’s radar, we are feeling hopeful we’ll be able to have our Earth Daze event at Aslin in Herndon on the 24th of April to Celebrate Earth and Arbor Days, so Save the Date!    

Virginia General Assembly: The Virginia General Assembly started yesterday (1/13) and important bills are moving quickly.

Yesterday was the first step towards ensuring expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage service containers are banned. The House Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee held the first vote on House Bill 2092 and the bill passed out of the committee with a 15 Yes – 7 No vote! If you have a minute, let our elected officials know you appreciate them standing up for Virginia’s environment!

Tomorrow, House Bill 2042, which gives localities the ability to increase the mandated percentage of tree cover that must be replaced or conserved during development will be heard in the House Counties, Cities, and Towns Committee. Tree cover is important on so many levels: it helps improve water quality, provides natural habitat, reduces erosion, mitigates flooding, reduces heat-island effect, acts as natural traffic calming, raises property values, and improves quality of life. Virginia loses over 16,000 acres of trees every year, and this bill could help reduce the accelerating loss of greenspaces across the Commonwealth. You can read a great one page write up about the importance of expanding tree coverage in Virginia on the Virginia Conservation Network website here! If your delegate is a member of the House Counties, Cities, and Towns Committee this is a great time to let them know you support increasing tree cover! Contact information for committee members is available through the House Counties, Cities, and Towns Committee links. 

Plant NOVA Natives: Sticking with the theme of the need to expand green space, we wanted to share some information about a local group doing great work. Plant NOVA Natives has been providing a series of workshops with some more coming up! They have hosted a series of videoconferences called “Ask an Expert” where local experts have helped people create flourishing native plant ecosystems! They have compiled the video series on a YouTube playlist you can check out here. And for more great native plant information read their latest newsletter here!

Bioplastics and Greenwashing: We’ve written about why “biodegradable” plastics are not the answer to the plastic crisis- switching from one type of plastic to another will not solve our problems, it’s purely greenwashing (marketing a product to make it seem environmentally friendly). The most glaring problem with biodegradable plastic is that they require industrial facilities to compost. You can’t put them in your backyard composter to use on your home garden. China recently announced a plan to eliminate single use plastics by 2025, but their plan has some serious shortcomings.

China is planning on substituting traditional plastics with “biodegradable” plastic. In the last year, Chinese companies have increased their ability to produce “biodegradable” by over 4 million tons every year. This expansion of production facilities has not been combined with building the infrastructure necessary to handle increased production. When dealing with any kind of plastic, remember the 4 Rs: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Read the entire story about why switching to “biodegradable” plastics is not a feasible option here. Recently Glad released their new “green” sandwich bags made of 50% plant based material. These bags cannot be recycled, they are not biodegradable, they will sit in landfills just like every other plastic bag. Labeling these bags as “green” is a perfect example of greenwashing- the product is being falsely marketed as an environmentally friendly alternative. 

PPE Waste Problems: Masks are good; we wear them and encourage everyone to follow CDC guidelines, just make sure they don’t end up as litter. Improperly disposed masks are clogging storm drains and harming wildlife. In 2020 over 1.5 billion masks made their way into the ocean. Face masks are a necessity and reusables ones are great. Here’s a story about the increased prevalence of masks in natural environments. Reusable masks are great, we’ve made some with old t-shirts and we’ve purchased some from local businesses that have had to pivot during the pandemic- there are always other options than single use items!

McDonald’s to Remove Toxic Chemicals from Packaging: There is a lot of excitement that McDonald’s has announced they will eliminate toxic chemicals (PFAS- Perfluorooctanoic acid) from their food packaging materials by 2025. You read that correctly, the largest food chain in the world has toxic chemicals in their packaging. They aren’t alone,  PFAS is in everything from clothing to pots and pans, even food packaging. PFAS chemicals damage the immune system and have been linked to a litany of cancer and neurological problems. PFAS impacts groundwater and is extremely difficult to clean up when it reaches the environment. There are a few bills in Virginia that aim to reduce PFAS impact in the state, and it is always helpful to let your elected officials know you are concerned about the spread of this toxic chemical. For some more information about PFAS you can read the full story about PFAS in food packaging here.

Welcome to the 2021 Virginia General Assembly! To stay up to date about the 2021 General Assembly, be sure to follow our legislation tracker (with 2021 bills being added currently) at Litter Free Virginia, and sign up for our email list while your there! During the General Assembly we send out about 1 email every week to help Virginia residents be active participants in our state’s legislative process. Being an odd numbered year, this will be a short session, and it looks like it is going to be kept to a quick 30 days. This gives elected officials two weeks to hear and vote on every bill before the bills crossover. There aren’t as many litter and plastic waste bills this year as 2020, but there are still a few we are tracking. Our two priority bills this year are holdovers from last year. The debate to ban expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) food and beverage service containers continues, and we are expecting to see a bill that will make intentional balloon releases illegal- current Virginia law allows the release of 49 balloons every hour.

The General Assembly is starting HOT! HB 1902 the bill to ban the use of expanded polystyrene food and service containers will be heard before the House Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee tomorrow (1/13/2020). Now is the time for action, let YOUR elected official know you want them to support the ban on expanded polystyrene food and beverage service containers. Make your story personal, elected officials want to hear why their constituents support a bill. Let them know you find expanded polystyrene when you’re walking your dog, or that you see it covering parking lots when you go to the store.  Last year, this bill was sidelined because of some nonsense about how there might be a recycling facility for EPS built in Virginia.  except that there are few if any facilities that recycle FOOD EPS and that is exactly what this bill addresses. Even worse, this delay was caused by Fairfax County senators- you can read their comments from last year here on the Environment Virginia website.

You can find the contact information for all Delegates on the House Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee here. If you need to find out who your elected official is, you can use the Who’s My Legislator page from the Virginia General Assembly. You can submit comments for tomorrow’s hearing with this link. You can watch tomorrow’s committee hearing using this link. 

Here are some talking points for your message to your legislator:

EPS foam containers for takeout food and beverages are a major source of plastic pollution in Virginia. 

Made of styrene, a known hazardous substance linked to various types of cancer, EPS foam is a petrochemical derived product that is a serious concern for human health and wildlife. Toxic chemicals from EPS foam containers can leach into food and drinks and then be ingested, especially when the food or beverage is served hot. People who work in areas with high concentrations of styrene have increased rates of cancer, neurological issues, and depression. For low-income communities and communities of color, this concern is especially acute. Often suffering from insufficient access to grocery stores with affordable and nutritious food, these communities are forced to rely on fast food options, which are often stored in EPS containers.

The chemical industry has argued that recycling is the solution to their harmful products, but the New York City Department of Sanitation recently determined that EPS foam food containers cannot be recycled in a manner that is economically feasible or environmentally effective for New York City. Global plastic production is projected to quadruple between 2014 and 2050. In addition–we cannot “recycle” our way out of this problem; we must find solutions to reduce plastic at the source.

Eliminating the production and consumption of single-use plastic products is an effective way to reduce plastic pollution and combat this global crisis. After the California cities of Santa Cruz and Pacific Grove banned EPS foam food containers, EPS litter on local beaches decreased by as much as 71 percent. And it’s possible to replace many EPS food containers with a cheaper alternative.

Virginians’ health, communities, and natural areas are under siege from plastics. Plastics are now found in our air, water, and soil. Recycling has been overwhelmingly shown to not be a feasible solution. We need to enact efficient waste reduction policies and encourage businesses as well as Virginians to reduce waste generation to protect Virginia residents, communities, and our environment from the scourge of plastic litter.

There are a few other bills we are tracking and we’ll send out an update about those soon, but this email is an action alert! HB 1902 will be heard tomorrow afternoon after the general session, let’s get this important bill across the finish line!

Full Bill Text

HB 1902 Expanded polystyrene food service containers; prohibition; civil penalty. Prohibits the dispensing by a food vendor of prepared food to a customer in a single-use expanded polystyrene food service container, as defined in the bill. The bill requires certain chain restaurants to stop using such containers by July 1, 2023, and sets the date for compliance by all food vendors as July 1, 2025. The bill exempts nonprofit organizations from the definition of “food vendor” and provides a process by which a locality may grant consecutive one-year exemptions to individual food vendors on the basis of undue economic hardship. The bill provides a civil penalty of not more than $50 for each day of violation, to be collected in a civil action brought by the Attorney General or the relevant locality. The penalties collected are to be deposited in the Litter Control and Recycling Fund or to the treasury of the relevant locality, as appropriate. A portion of the penalties deposited in the Fund are to be used for public information campaigns to discourage the sale and use of expanded polystyrene products. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Environmental Quality to post to its website information on compliance and the filing of complaints. This bill is a reenactment of Chapter 1104 of the Acts of Assembly of 2020.