COVID-19, Ohio’s House Bill 242 complicate movement to ban plastic bags

Ohio is among several states that have participated in the conversation around banning plastic bags — and single use plastics in general — since the first plastic bag ban in California in 2014. 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes this year, including stores prohibiting shoppers to use their own reusable bags instead of plastic in fear of germs from home coming into the stores. Cuyahoga County also delayed enforcement of its plastic bag ban from last year due to the pandemic. 

COVID-19, among financial reasons for businesses, caused the Ohio House to revisit the plastic conversation with House Bill 242.

House Bill 242, which passed in the Ohio House, prevents local governments from banning plastic bags and other single use plastics. The House voted 58-35, with most republicans voting “yes” and most democrats voting “no.” As of Wednesday, Sept. 23, the bill rests on Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s desk awaiting his signature which would transform the bill into a law within 90 days.

Those in favor of the bill base a lot of their argument on the impact banning plastic bags could have on businesses across the state when banned at the local level.

In a collection of testimonies in support of House Bill 242 provided by the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council [OCTC], the leading advocate for Ohio’s chemical technology industry, wrote that regulations should be consistent and transparent.

“Allowing municipalities to impose taxes or bans on auxiliary containers at the local level would create a patchwork of regulations throughout the state and by doing so, create an added financial burden for Ohio’s businesses by requiring them to comply with these added regulations,” the testimony states. “Also, businesses that have operations in multiple municipalities throughout the state will be forced to design a different business plan for each municipality that imposes these taxes or bans.”

OCTC’s testimony continued to address the possible impact of plastic bag fees on consumers as well as businesses stating, “These added costs would not only affect businesses, but would create a financial burden for consumers, as the additional tax on auxiliary containers would be levied upon the customer.” 

In a testimony from the Greater Cleveland Partnership, one of the largest chambers of commerce in the state which supports 11,000 small, mid-market and large companies across Northeast Ohio, wrote that bans on plastic bags have the potential to increase the use of paper bags which would cost businesses more money.

“For example, Heinen’s, a Cleveland-based, family-owned grocery store, could see costs for bags increase by $2 million per year because of the switch to paper,” the testimony states.

The Ohio Grocers Association [OGA], a non-profit trade organization representing approximately 400 grocers, wholesalers, brokers and associate members, also wrote that varying regulations and fees across municipalities could prove to be difficult for businesses to manage. OGA also wrote that it witnessed regulations like these create customer and employee confusion.

“We are on the front line of the customer experience,” the testimony states. “Employees need to be adequately trained at the checkout in order to promptly adhere to the regulations. “Furthermore, without proper education, consumers often associate these fees with the store itself and will simply choose to shop elsewhere.”

Sam Tuttle, park supervisor in the city of Kent, said while Kent parks are a catch-22 situation because they provide plastic bags in their pet clean up stations, it doesn’t take long to find plastic litter in any of the 20 parks in the city, including water sources.

“Sixty percent of what we pull out of the river clean up is plastic,” Tuttle said.

U.S. PIRG, an advocacy group for public interest working in the realms of public health, repairing the economy and various environmentally friendly projects, has state branches across the country including in Ohio.

Olivia Sullivan, the zero waste associate at U.S. PIRG, said plastic gained a lot of attention recently because of its impact on sea life, but the main reason plastic is harmful is because it never goes away.

“On average a plastic bag is used for 12 minutes, but then it persists in our environment and pollutes our communities for generations — maybe forever,” Sullivan said. “We’re not really sure if it ever actually goes away…It’s just kind of crazy that we’ve built this system that’s so wasteful where we use things for a few minutes and then it pollutes our environment potentially forever.”

Not only are plastics impacting wildlife, but humans as well. Sullivan said a hot topic in the research world right now is microplastics, which are pieces of plastic less than five millimeters long that can be the result of larger plastic debris degrading.

“We don’t fully understand the health impacts of microplastics, but we do know for sure that microplastics have been found in our food, in our drinking water — whether it’s tap or bottled water — and they’ve been found in our bodies,” Sullivan said. “We’re all eating plastics every single day, most commonly in seafood, in our honey, in our salts, in our beer. We already know that plastics can be endocrine disruptors, so it’s probably not good for our health.”

Aside from pollution, Sullivan said the upstream effect caused by plastic production is also harmful to the environment as 99% of all plastic produced comes from fossil fuels.

“That involves fracking and drilling for oil and then turning that oil — through the process of ethylene crackers, the plants where it happens —  into polyethylene, then [into] little plastic pellets and then that gets made into plastic,” Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of air pollution, especially for the communities that live on the frontline of these plastic facilities. It’s a big environmental justice topic right now as well that our communities shouldn’t be facing air pollution from these really awful plastic facilities in order for us to have a plastic bag we use for five minutes to carry our groceries home.”

While Sullivan said she believes the environmental impacts should be the most important factor to consider in the argument of whether or not to ban single use plastics, she said she understands the argument made about the effects on businesses.

“But when you really think about it, especially with the plastic bags, grocery stores are giving them to customers free of charge,” Sullivan said. “So banning them and then either requiring customers to bring their own bag or buy reusable bags from the store, the grocery store is actually going to make more money off of that because they’re no longer having to provide plastic bags free of charge.”

Sullivan said restaurants can save money in the same way as grocery stores when it comes to plastic straws. Instead of automatically giving one to every customer, restaurants could just provide them upon request.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Sullivan said she believes a lot of the debate on plastic bans  focuses on restaurants and the panic around how restaurants are supposed to survive if they can’t use styrofoam or plastic takeout containers.

“There are alternatives,” Sullivan said. “Some of them might be more expensive and plastic might be the cheaper option, but when it comes down to the health of our environment, our oceans, our natural spaces and our frontline communities a few cents more for a cardboard takeout container, or a compostable alternative to plastic, there might be a cost trade off for some restaurant businesses. But that trade off is worth it if it means protecting the health of our communities and the health of our planet.”

Sullivan said if Governor DeWine signs House Bill 242 into effect the fight to ban single use plastics would have to be taken to the state level, or shift to being about getting rid of the ruling.

Senator Nickie Antonio, a democrat serving Ohio Senate District 23, voted “no” on House Bill 242 and said she could see the House revisiting the issue if Ohio sees a change in its republican dominant administration.

“That’s the good thing about legislation,” Senator Antonio said. “It’s not easy, but it’s possible to change…We have to acknowledge that there’s a climate crisis, then we have to look at what our part [is] to stop single use plastic use, but I think it’s possible…You have to believe there is a problem before you try to remediate it.”

Ohio has participated in the conversation around banning plastic bags – and single use plastics in general – but with COVID & House Bill 242, the move to ban is more complicated.

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— Maria McGinnis (@MariaMcGinnis13) September 27, 2020