By Sara Papanikolaou / For The Herald
This year, as the state legislature convenes amid compounding crises — the covid-19 pandemic and an increasingly volatile climate — it’s more important than ever to build healthy, resilient communities.
Over the past several decades, the fossil fuel industry has steadily shifted oil and gas production toward single-use plastics and expanded polystyrene foam. And this trend is intensifying; plastic production is projected to quadruple by 2050.
Single-use plastics are designed to last forever but are often used for only a moment before being tossed into a bin. Despite consumers’ best efforts, most single-use plastic is not recycled and ends up in a landfill or our waterways. Climate-wrecking emissions are tied to every step of the plastic life cycle: from oil and gas extraction to plastic production to disposal and degradation.
Plastic trash that makes its way into our oceans often entangles or is mistaken for food by marine animals. Sea turtles commonly mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, one of their main food sources, and seabirds are increasingly found dead with bellies full of plastic trash. Larger mammals such as seals and whales can become entangled and slowly choke or drown because of the plastic debris floating in our oceans. In 2012, a Guadalupe fur seal was found dead off the Washington coast with an 8-inch piece of plastic lodged inside its stomach — just one example of the devastating impacts of plastic in the marine environment worldwide.
Once in the environment, plastic breaks down into tiny pieces that end up in our food, water and air. These so-called microplastics have been found at every level of our biosphere, from rain in the Rockies to remote coastlines and melting out of Arctic sea ice. Industry’s reliance on petrochemical products like plastic is destroying our marine environment and our communities, which are shouldering the growing burden of plastic products like polystyrene foam in their municipal waste stream.
It’s time for our leaders in the state Legislature to take the plastics crisis head-on, and that will require reducing the production and use of single-use plastics. Senate Bill 5022 — championed by Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent, offers a way to do just that. The bill was passed by the Senate with bipartisan support and is now in the House.
If the bill becomes law, SB 5022 would prohibit expanded polystyrene foam food service products, recreational coolers and packing peanuts; make single-use plastic utensils, straws, cup lids and condiments available by request only; and set standards for recycled content in containers and trash bags.
At a time when restaurants are facing unprecedented challenges, removing the burden of providing free plastic cutlery and condiments unless requested by customers will help their bottom line. Taking these foodware products out of the waste stream entirely will help reduce the strain from cash-strapped municipalities so local leaders can focus on keeping our communities healthy and rebuilding their local economies.
Oceana’s nearly 35,000 members in Washington state, along with our partners in the Plastic Free Washington coalition, are calling for clean, healthy waters that allow our salmon, orcas and other marine life to thrive. It’s time to move toward the future we want and away from an environment increasingly flooded with plastics we can’t clean up. Our communities deserve better than having to foot the bill for the fossil fuel industry’s mess. Call your representative today and urge them to pass SB 5022.
Sara Papanikolaou is a field representative for Oceana and lives in Woodinville.
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