Research shows that bag fees are one of the most effective ways to fight single-use plastic bag litter.
Litter Free Virginia has written up the talking points below so that you can be an effective advocate for a bag fee in your locality!
Once you have read through the page, visit this link to choose the talking points you are most comfortable with and get a personal PDF with all the info you need to advocate for a bag bill!
Talking Point Categories:
EQUITY
Misconception:
Plastic bag fees are a bad idea because they disproportionately harm vulnerable communities.
Refuting information:
• Plastic bag fees can be waived for certain communities (SNAP, WIC) and often the fee is fed back into the community to provide reusable bags!
Many Virginia localities offer free reusable bags to SNAP and WIC participants, which can be picked up from Government office buildings, public libraries, and even some grocery stores! For example, the City of Falls Church offers pick-ups for participants at their Housing & Human Services office in City Hall, the City of Alexandria offers pick-ups from their DCHS and T&ES offices, and City of Roanoke offers bags to all residents at select City of Roanoke libraries, and to SNAP and WIC participants at their SNAP & WIC offices.
• The average cost per household is only about $5 per year!
ECONOMY
Misconception:
A plastic bag tax would be a financial burden on taxpayers and disproportionately harm vulnerable communities.
Refuting information:
Fee versus tax
• Plastic bag fees are a FEE, not a tax. One which we can all elect out of by bringing a reusable bag or even a box!
“Tax is the compulsory payment to the government without getting any direct benefits. Fees are generally obligatory to regulate or control various types of activities.
However, a fee is particularly applied for the use of a service. A tax is a compulsory contribution made by a taxpayer. A fee is a voluntary payment.”
Clean-ups cost!
• In 2020, the litter taxes generated $1,864,527, about $0.22 per Virginia resident.
• These taxes are spent by litter producing companies to clean up the problem they are creating.
• Further, before the 2020 General Assembly, the litter tax in Virginia had not been adjusted for inflation since its inception over 45 years ago.
Nothing is free
• Plenty of businesses (e.g. Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Costco) already don’t offer any bags.
• For the initial year stores keep $0.02 of every $0.05, and after that year receives $0.01 of every $0.05.
• Retailers already embed the cost of these single-use products in their operating costs.
According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, Plastic bags cost U.S. retailers an estimated $4 billion annually, and individual retailers can spend between $1,000-$6,000 monthly on plastic bags.
“The 100 billion plastic shopping bags in use each year in the U.S. are made from the estimated equivalent of 439 million gallons of oil, and they cost retailers an estimated $4 billion.”
ENVIRONMENT
Misconception:
Single use plastic products are safer than reusable products.
Refuting information:
Single-use isn’t sustainable
• While single-use plastic bags do have lower emissions, consumers use considerably more of these bags and these bags are more environmentally persistent
Recycled cotton for reusable bags isn’t driving climate change – single use plastics are a significant factor driving climate change
Cotton is a natural and durable fiber, while plastic is made from fossil fuel and can only be “downcycled” into more plastic (requiring energy and thus greenhouse gas emissions)
Recycling, as it stands, can’t be the sole solution
• Technology and clean-ups alone can’t address single-use plastic pollution
“Reducing emissions requires drastic actions, like capping the production of virgin plastic to increase the value of recycled plastic, and banning export of plastic waste unless it is to a country with better recycling” says Tekman.
• Recycling rates for single-use plastic bags are extremely low (<10% of plastic is recycled).
“Advanced” recycling is problematic
• “Advanced” recycling or chemical conversion of plastic (the process of heating up plastic with chemicals) still makes more plastic!
• Chemical conversion emits further greenhouse gases and has been flagged as problematic in the EU.
“Throughout this report the overriding finding is that there is a general lack of transparency or robust evidence base that can be used to verify claims or generate firm conclusions around the viability of many [chemical conversion] technologies… At the commercial scale (or close to it), the competition to be first to market is strong and this appears to limit publicly available evidence. This also means that caution must be exercised as a lack of evidence can mean either a knowledge gap or that the answer is less favourable.“
“Even when compared with a relatively poorly performing mechanical [traditional] recycling scenario, current pyrolysis oil to monomer processes [chemical conversion] appear to be too energy intensive to compete.“
EXPOSURE
Misconception:
Single use plastic products are safer than reusable products.
Refuting information:
• Microplastics have been found in table salt, drinking water and air.
• Microplastics are found in food.
• Ingestion of plastic has drastic human health implications, including negative impacts on reproductive fertility.
Once you have read through this page, enter your email and select the talking points you feel comfortable speaking about and we will send you a short PDF with a writeup on those points!
(Don’t worry – we won’t store your email or any sensitive information!)
