Environment & Public Health
An average Virginian is estimated to use roughly 320 plastic bags each year. With a population of 8.47 million people, that’s 3 billion bags annually consumed within the state. Considering the sheer number of bags that Virginians use each year, the damage that they inflict on Virginia’s natural resources is hardly surprising. With a recycling rate of 3% or less, many of these bags inevitably find their way into Virginia’s streams and rivers.
Wildlife & Ecosystem Degradation
Unfortunately, ingestion of or entanglement in disposable bags, which looks like food, often proves fatal for wildlife.
Oysters/Mussels – The Chesapeake Bay’s beloved shellfish often mistake plastic items for food.
Turtles – 52% of all sea turtles have consumed some form of plastic. Plastic bags look exceptionally like jelly fish, a favorite snack of turtles.
Birds – 90% of all seabirds have consumed some form of plastic.
Fish – It’s much more difficult to study marine consumption, but microplastics bioaccumulate in fish and it has been shown to compromise liver function as well as weaken schooling behavior.
The use of plastics, which has exponentially increased in recent decades, poses a significant threat to Virginia’s waterways. Plastics, especially bags and bottles, fragment into increasingly smaller pieces, which are nearly impossible to remove from water and soil. The resulting microplastics do not biodegrade e.g. they maintain their unique chemical properties even as they are no longer easily seen. Research finds that plastics can leach potentially harmful chemicals into water, and furthermore, they attract other persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBTs) chemicals that can be passed back up the food chain via seafood. One recent NOAA study found microplastics in 98% of all water samples from the Chesapeake Bay, and both VIMS and University of Maryland are currently researching microplastics’ effects on sediments and submerged aquatic vegetation, the bedrocks of the ecosystem.
Marine Litter
This issue is far from local. While Virginia is primarily concerned with local streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, the state also has a legal responsibility to stop litter from entering the Atlantic Ocean. According to NOAA and Virginia’s Marine Debris Reduction Plan, 80% of all marine debris originates on land. Where does this litter end up? See: North Atlantic Garbage Patch.
Greenhouse Gases
It should be noted that disposable plastic bags are typically made from fossil fuels (and in some situations, natural gas) — specifically, from High Density Polyethylene. Consequently, not only do these bags cause environmental harm after use, but they generate harmful greenhouse gases from the moment they’re made.
Public Health
As new research on plastics develops, so do public health concerns. Chemicals in plastics have been shown to leach into water and foods. Although the consequences of this leaching are only just now being studied, it’s relatively safe to assume they’re not good.
Resources of Note:
- Microplastics in fisheries and aquaculture technical paper, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2017
- Microplastics Expert Workshop Report, EPA 2017
- Technical Review of Microbeads/Microplastics in the Chesapeake Bay, STAC Review Report 2016
- World Oceans Assessment, United Nations 2017
