Learn The Facts
Single-use plastic bags are everywhere. Unfortunately, that especially includes Virginia’s lands and waterways! An average Virginian is estimated to use roughly 320 plastic bags each year. With an estimated population of 8.53 million people, that’s nearly 3 billion bags annually consumed within the state.
The use of plastics, which has exponentially increased in recent decades, poses a significant threat to Virginia’s environment and economy. Taking the time to explore this site is a great first step towards combating plastic pollution and litter in your community. All info here has been rigorously researched by scientists, litter experts and other sustainability professionals. Once you’ve learned the facts, it’s time to take action.
Research has shown that bag fees are one of the most effective ways to curtail single-use plastic bag litter.
We’ve written up some initial talking points so that you can be an effective advocate for a single-use plastic bag fee in your community and throughout Virginia!
It’s difficult to overstate the impact that 3 billion plastic bags have on Virginia’s environment. Ingestion of or entanglement in plastic bags often proves fatal for wildlife.
Turtles, birds, fish, mammals, and important filtering bivalves like oysters and mussels mistake plastic items for food. Plastics can leach potentially harmful chemicals into water and attract other persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals that can be passed back up the food chain via seafood to humans. This research is still nascent but compelling.
The economy is regularly cited as a reason not to have legislation on single-use bags, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Virginia spends millions of dollars a year cleaning up litter on the tax-payers’ dime. Furthermore, an unhealthy Bay endangers the local fishing and tourism industries.
No one wants to tan on a littered beach. Cotton farmers loathe plastic bags because bags catch in the gin and contaminate entire bales. Finally, retailers save when they are no longer expected to provide single-use bags free of charge!
Research shows that a bag fee is the most effective way to curtail single-use bag usage. Legislation that circumscribes a problem is the most effective way to create widespread community change .
Unfortunately, there are so many myths out there about litter prevention and bag bills (propagated by the plastic bag industry) that we have to provide a section on this.
In brief: plastic bags are very rarely recycled (and there are almost no local jobs involved in plastic bag recycling), they don’t reduce greenhouse gases (they typically increase them), they aren’t reused enough to justify their ubiquity, and they certainly aren’t healthier than reusable bags. Ok rant over, go play!
Single-Use Plastic Bags News
A report published at the start of 2024 by U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group presents even stronger evidence that single-use plastic bag policy is effective and impactful on plastic pollution across the United States. Their report, fittingly titled Plastic Bag Bans Work, estimates that “on average, plastic bag bans similar to those studied can eliminate almost 300 single-use plastic bags per person, per year. Studied bans have also reduced plastic bag litter by one-third or more and encouraged the use of more sustainable options.”
In addition to the impressive findings from their research, the report frames the context of the plastic bag problem, outlines some of the existing bag bans across the country, and addresses further FAQs and myths about plastic bag bans. Finally, be sure to check out their “Single-use Plastic Bag Ban Waste Reduction Calculator” tool to explore the impact a ban would have on your city/state.
