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Washington’s plastic bag ban on hold during COVID-19
The state Legislature passed the ban on single-use plastic bags with bipartisan support in 2020, but the pandemic has delayed its implementation.
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Glen Quadros, owner of the Great American Diner & Bar, hands over a takeout food order, packaged in compostable containers placed inside a plastic bag, to a waiting customer in Seattle on March 31, 2020. Washington state has delayed a plastic bag ban because of the pandemic. (Elaine Thompson/AP)
On March 9, 2020, 33 state senators voted to pass Senate Bill 5323, making Washington the ninth state to ban single-use plastic bags. Two days later, the World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Along with in-person gatherings, the statewide plastic bag ban became an early victim of the pandemic.
Plastics and personal protective equipment: Where does PPE go to die when it’s done saving our lives?
Photo by Matt Miller, a documentation of PPE in his neighbourhood
While personal protective eqipment (PPE) such as masks and gloves serve to protect public health, their increased demand and improper disposal are contributing to plastic waste build up.
Plastics are unable to decompose, instead, breaking down into microplastics then further into nanoplastics. In one form or another, plastics remain in the environment. In an article for Environmental Science and Technology researchers estimate 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves contribute to plastic pollution per month globally.
Bag It is a documentary that focuses on the world’s overuse of plastic bags and other plastic items. It’s a light-hearted film that is both educational and entertaining as it calls out our everyday use of plastic and other items we think can be recycled that actually aren’t recyclable at all.
This film leaves a lasting impression because it points out all the everyday plastic items you use that you may overlook. For example, milk used to come in glass containers now it comes in cardboard containers with plastic caps. Where do those plastic caps go once you throw them out? Are they even recyclable? Think more about what you use, and you’ll find plastic all around you.
Meet the coastal warrior creating couture from Sydneyâs shore waste
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Artist Marina DeBris starts each day combing the beaches of Sydneyâs eastern suburbs for rubbish that she fashions into a kind of couture called âtrashionâ. Itâs not hard for this âtrashionistaâ to find raw materials for her creations.
âYou wouldnât believe some of the things I find washed up on the beach,â she says â the most common: cigarette butts; the strangest: a latex sex toy.
Model and scientist Laura Wells wears âThe ones that got awayâ, which Marina DeBris made from aluminium cans and plastic bottles.Â