For decades, Americans have been sorting their trash believing that most plastic could be recycled. But the truth is, the vast majority of all plastic produced can't be or won't be recycled. In 40 years, less than 10% of plastic has ever been recycled.
ecause of coronavirus, events planned for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day were cancelled, or moved online. At least while lockdown orders last, the pandemic is transforming behavior and environmental impacts—but not across the board. Some industries are cynically exploiting it to push for rollbacks and greater license to pollute.
The plastics industry is a case in point. It's intertwined with the fossil fuel industry, since petrochemical byproducts of fossil fuel production are the feedstocks for plastics. As demand for fracked gas declines, the two industries have been working to channel overproduction into producing more plastic, and they're playing the angles to stoke demand.
“So far, evidence suggests that the virus does not survive as well on a soft surface (such as fabric) as it does on frequently touched hard surfaces like elevator buttons and door handles,” wrote Dr. Lisa Lockerd Maragakis, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, in a recent article.
She noted that the 72-hour life of the virus on plastic has received a lot of attention, but the scientists who made that discovery found that by 72 hours less than 0.1% of the starting virus material remains, meaning infection is unlikely.
Even though that study didn’t expressly answer the question about reusable bags, it can inform decisions about them, some experts say.
“When I think about what the things are that we can do to reduce pandemic risk, do I think this is the most important thing? No,” said Dr. Stephen Luby, an epidemiologist and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “Is there some evidence to support it? Yes. I guess I would say I don’t find it unreasonable.”
Many of the greenies pushed hard for the plastic bag ban. At the same time, commercial food waste landfill ban got very little attention, although one could argue that will save a lot more waste out of landfills, and do more to reduce carbon emissions then banning single-use plastic bans. Donating more unsold food to charities and composting food waste, is really a good idea, but it didn’t excite liberals because it wasn’t as much about social control and will be largely invisible to ordinary consumers.
