Each year, some 380 million tons of plastic are produced, with as much as half of that going into single-use items and only 9 percent recycled. An estimated 12 million tons of plastic wash into the ocean each year, swirling into gyres that hurt sea life. Plastic breaks down into microscopic bits that are showing up in food and water with unknown effects on our health.
Efforts to avoid single-use plastic suffered a setback during the COVID-19 pandemic as people ordered takeout and shopped online. Washington delayed enforcement of the state’s new plastic bag ban and some stores prohibited customers from using their own bags.
As the pandemic wanes and life begins to return to normal, environmental groups are kicking off a campaign to “Reopen with Reuse.” They argue that single-use plastics have been falsely promoted as a way to avoid coronavirus transmission.
“As we come out of COVID, we are looking to restaurants to go back to using durables,” said Heather Trim, executive director of Seattle-based Zero Waste Washington.
To Learn More
Zero Waste Washington will kick off Plastic Free July with a virtual rally 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday. RSVP to get the virtual link: ReuseRally.brownpapertickets.com.
Sign up for the monthlong plastic-free challenge at ecochallenge.org.
This all coincides with Plastic Free July. The annual observance dates to 2011, when Australian Rebecca Prince-Ruiz decided to avoid single-use plastic for month. What started in her kitchen grew into a worldwide movement.
Despite the name, Plastic Free July doesn’t ask people to completely eliminate every speck of plastic from their lives. Instead it calls for curbing use of single-use plastics, starting with the four most prevalent categories: bottles, bags, beverage containers and straws. In July 2020, an estimated 326 million people participated worldwide.
You can join them by signing up at ecochallenge.org. The Portland-based nonprofit runs an online program through July that invites people to take small steps — for example, skipping straws, switching to reusable safety razors or buying clothing made of natural fibers — and track their progress.
Many of us own reusable bags, coffee mugs and water bottles — maybe even multiple — but forget to use them or fell out of practice during the pandemic.
“We need to take a minute to realize what gets in our way,” Alex Luna said. She owns Kindred Homestead Supply in downtown Vancouver, where you can fill your own containers with dish soap, shampoo and other home and personal care products. The store also carries things like charcoal floss in a glass container ($8) to replace the plastic kind in plastic packaging, and silicone bowl covers ($10-$12 for a set of six) to replace cling wrap.
But even Luna said she’s stumbled in the past.
“Using my own bags at the grocery store is something that took me a really long time to do because I kept forgetting them at home,” she said. “I realized that if I leave them in my car, even if I’ve already gone in and gotten a cart, I can run out and get them.”
It just takes thinking ahead, said Ellen Ives of Vancouver. She’s so good at reducing waste that Clark County’s sustainability program named her 2021 Green Neighbor of the Year.
“Think of what you’re going to do, look to the future, and back up to determine ways you can avoid waste,” she said.
Ives said her biggest bugaboo is plastic clamshells, which can’t go into curbside recycling carts but are just about the only way you can buy berries at the grocery store. So she buys berries at farmers markets or orders them from Second Mile Food Hub.
Say you’re going to a family gathering this summer where you know food will be served on disposable plates with plastic forks and knives, Ives said. Bring your own plates and silverware, and then pack them up and wash them when you’re back home.
“We’re all in such a hurry,” Ives said. “Just take a moment to try to think of how you can avoid constantly throwing stuff in the garbage.”
Changes ahead in Washington will make that easier.
The state health code will let customers use their own containers at bulk food bins and for takeout beginning March 2022.
A law passed this year will require that restaurants provide straws and plastic silverware only on request beginning in 2022; ban certain Styrofoam products in 2024; and gradually ratchet up the amount of required recycled content in plastic bottles and other containers.
