Now that the Biden Administration is officially up and running and the Senate is more inclined to support environmental legislation, the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020 (the “BFFPPA”) – championed by former Senator Udall and California Representative Lowenthal – has a chance of getting signed into law. The Act is ambitious in its goals to reduce single-use plastics and increase recycling of plastic.

At UPSTREAM, we look closely at policies like the BFFPPA to see whether they specify transitions to reusable and refillable replacements for all single-use products and packaging or if they are likely to cause “regrettable substitutes” like paper and aluminum. Because the BFFPPA does not currently focus on reusables, we organized a working group to develop recommendations for building reusable/refillable requirements into the Act and have been communicating these ideas to the authors of the legislation. 

Swapping single use plastic to single use alternatives is not a sustainable solution

While eliminating single-use plastic may solve the plastic pollution problem, the single-use substitute products that replace plastic too often trade one set of environmental burdens for others. For example, switching to paper results in cutting down more trees. Already three billion trees are logged each year to make paper packaging. In a climate crisis, and during the 6th global mass extinction, we need our trees!  

The BFFPPA also encourages transitioning to more recyclable materials such as aluminum, which is highly recyclable, but making aluminum packaging still requires some virgin material. The mining and transformation of raw bauxite into aluminum is energy-intensive and releases perfluorocarbons that are 9,200 times more harmful than CO2 in global warming impacts. 

Every substitution of one single-use product for another requires choosing which part of the ecosystem you are willing to burden. The substitutes are usually regrettable ones.

Reusable and refillable packaging is always a better choice than single-use. Made of materials like glass, metal, ceramic, and more durable plastics, reusables have a break-even point with single-use. That is, after a certain number of uses, they start providing more environmental benefits than the single-use items they replace. Generally, the break-even point is between 2 and 100 uses, depending on the product. The same is true for costs. Reusables can cost more upfront, but after relatively few uses, they become more cost-effective than single-use products. 

Adding reusables to the BFFPPA 

We recommended that in the BFFPPA, 5 business sectors be required to ensure that 10% of their packaging be reusable by 2024 and 20% by 2028. These sectors include: 

1. foods service (take out and delivery of prepared meals and meal kits)

2. consumer food and beverage products

3. consumer cleaning products

4. consumer personal care products

5. transportation/shipping of wholesale and retail goods 

At the same time, we recommended that the EPA evaluate all business sectors to determine which are the highest users of single-use packaging – and every 2 years add more business sectors into the regulations until all sectors that involve single-use packaging in their commerce are included. And over time, the EPA would have to increase the rate of reusables required until they are effectively eliminated.

You may think that these kinds of targets can’t be met. But I don’t. Here’s why. This weekend, I looked at these two products in my kitchen.

The Strauss milk bottles are part of a refill program where I pay a $2.00 deposit on the bottle when I leave the store, and when I return the empty, I get my deposit back. Strauss Family Creamery has followed this model voluntarily since 1994. They get 80% of their bottles back, and the bottles are made with up to 30% recycled glass. They report that “consumers who purchase our reusable glass bottles help keep approximately 500,000 pounds of milk containers and plastic out of the landfill each year.” 

It got me thinking – why can’t Trader Joe’s do this? Normally I buy olive oil in bulk and bring my own bottle. But that hasn’t been possible during the pandemic. This olive oil that I buy from Trader Joe’s comes in a one-way bottle. Every time I finish one bottle of oil, it goes into the recycling bin. If it were plastic or a mixed material container, it likely wouldn’t get recycled. With the consumer loyalty to TJ’s, people are returning to the store just about every week. TJ’s could set up a deposit system to ensure the bottles get returned and help create local jobs by establishing local washing and refilling programs.

LoopStore™ is rolling out such a system with some of the most popular brands, like Clorox, Seventh Generation and Haagen-Dazs. Soon you will be able to purchase your favorite foods, cleaning products, and personal care products in refillable containers with a deposit system. Systems like these can add green jobs to the local economy while reducing environmental and health burdens from single-use packaging.