"Pandemic prompted states to temporarily ban reusable grocery bags and stalled legislation aimed at reducing plastic packaging"
"2020 was supposed to be the year America revolted against plastic.
Consumers were refusing straws and toting their own coffee mugs. Legislators had proposed an unprecedented wave of laws to ban single-use plastics. Even companies like Coke and Pepsi were opening up to the idea plastic might not be the future.
Then came the Covid-19 pandemic. Now activists worry the anti-plastic movement is once again back in the trenches.
The fight has stalled on a number of fronts across the US. Fears about the virus spreading on surfaces prompted several states to temporarily ban reusable grocery bags, sending single-use bags flooding back into the marketplace. Major legislation aimed at reducing plastics packaging has stalled as lawmakers’ priorities shifted elsewhere. Disposable masks and gloves have become the harbingers of pandemic life, along with plastic take-out food containers and the debris of Amazon packages."
