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In just 45 minutes, Reid Harlocker and his team collected 18 pounds of trash from the northern Pacific Ocean. “It’s awful,” he said, seated in his Hayden home Friday morning. “The pollution, it’s there.” Harlocker returned from his ocean voyage with Pangea Exploration on March 8. He and the crew spent a month in the …

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Philadelphia

Fines for Flouting Plastic Bag Ban Coming Soon, Philly Warns

The ban, which was passed in 2019 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prevents stores from giving customers single-use plastic bags or non-recyclable paper bags

By Rudy Chinchilla •

Published March 17, 2022 •
Updated on April 1, 2022 at 7:55 am

> > IF YOU PLAN TO SHOP THIS > > > IF YOU PLAN TO SHOP THIS WEEKEND, DONu2019T FORGET TO BYOB. WE MEAN BRING YOUR OWN BAG. IF LAW HAS BEEN ON THE BOOK SINCE JULY BUT ENFORCEMENT BEGINS TODAY. BEGINS TODAY. BUSINESSES THAT DONu2019T COMPLY WILL GET WARNINGS TILL APRIL 1stth. AFTER THAT, THEYu2019LL GET A TICKET. > > Reporter: THIS WAS LONG > > Reporter: THIS WAS LONG DELAYED DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. AS OF TODAY, ITu2019S OFFICIAL. THE SINGLE USE CINKLY PLASTIC BAGS NOW BANNED IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. INSTEAD YOU HAVE TO USE THIS OR A PAPER ONE. WAWAu2019S HANDING OUT FREE ONES TO WAWAu2019S HANDING OUT FREE ONES TO THEIR FIRST 100 CUSTOMERS. THE BAN WAS RESULTING FROM THE BAN WAS RESULTING FROM PLASTIC POLLUTION. THEY GET CLOGGED IN STORM DRAMS, BLOWING IN THE WIND. A BILLION OF THESE BAGS ARE USED EVERY YEAR IN THE CITY. THEYu2019VE BEEN A STAPLE. ITu2019S GOING TO US FROM STRAIGHT FOLKS. WHILE OTHERS THINK IT IS LONG WHILE OTHERS THINK IT IS LONG OVERDUE. > > Iu2019VE BEEN BRINGING BAGS TODAY AND I WAS ABLE TO PURCHASE THEM FOR UNDER A DOLLAR. > > I DONu2019T LIKE IT BECAUSE PLASTIC BAGS ARE SOMETIMES BETTER. > > Reporter: THE CITYu2019S NOT GOING TO ENFORCE WITH FINES UNTIL APRIL OF NEXT YEAR. HOWEVER, ITu2019S LIKELY YOU WONu2019T HOWEVER, ITu2019S LIKELY YOU WONu2019T FIND ANY PLASTIC BAGS ANYWAYS, SO YOU WANT TO PACK ONE WITH YOU THE NEXT TIME YOU GO SHOPPING.”,”video_id”:”1957431363659_218″,”video_length”:”94195″,”video_provider”:”mpx”,”short_video_excerpt”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_low”:”xxvtTi0iC5b7″,”pid_streaming_web_mobile_low”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_standard”:”qKroLwK3wHDn”,”pid_streaming_mobile_standard”:”TUc2md6WrVM9″,”alleypack_schedule_unpublish”:””,”feed_remote_id”:”mpx_1957431363659″,”feed_thumbnail_url”:””}” data-livestream=”false” data-title=”Philadelphia Plastic Bag Ban Officially in Effect” data-vidcid=”1:12:2978338″ data-vidurl=”https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-plastic-bag-ban-officially-in-effect/2978338/” data-islead=”true” data-catnames=”{“440″:”U.S. & World”,”282048″:”News”,”285018″:”Changing Climate”,”441″:”Local”}” data-tagnames=”{“304729″:”changing climate”,”6″:”Philadelphia”,”327284″:”plastic bag ban”,”126″:”Randy Gyllenhaal”}” data-customdata=”{“ContentPartner”:”None”,”Source”:”WEBFM”,”SyndicationAllowed”:”true”,”mSNVideoCategories”:”MSN Video v4 Connector-most watched news”,”mSNVideoContentSupplierID”:”NBC_Local”,”mSNVideoCountry”:”us”,”subtitle”:”nosubtitle”,”uploadedByTeam”:”1″,”youtubeChannel”:”None”}” data-autoplay=”true” data-cplay=”true” >

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Warnings no more: in two weeks, businesses that don’t comply with Philadelphia’s plastic bag ban can expect a fine.

In a press release, the city made clear to businesses that its monthslong warning period will come to an end starting April 1. 

“As we approach the April 1 enforcement deadline, we urge businesses to make the necessary arrangements to avoid any financial penalties. And we urge shoppers to bring reusable bags to do your shopping,” Mayor Jim Kenney said in a written statement in which he also underscored the importance of reducing single-use plastic waste to curb the effects of climate change.

The ban, which was passed in 2019 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prevents stores from giving customers single-use plastic bags or non-recyclable paper bags. Businesses that are not complying will only be given a warning through April 1, at which point full enforcement – meaning fines starting at $150 per violation and possible further action in court – will begin.

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The ban includes certain exemptions, including bags used inside stores to package unwrapped food items, flowers, potted plants and dry-cleaned clothing. Bags intended for use as garbage bags or to contain pet waste and yard waste will also be exempt.

Philadelphia uses an estimated one billion plastic bags per year, which litter the streets, waterways and commercial corridors of the city. 

The city maintains other goals of the ban include reducing litter, saving money and keeping staff safe during the recycling process. People often try to recycle plastic bags curbside – which is prohibited – causing the bags to get stuck in the recycling equipment and leading to dangerous conditions for recycling center staff, as well as high costs, according to the city.

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Plastic bags account for more than 150 hours of lost time at the recycling facility, costing $300,000 each year, the city says.

GovLabPHL, an initiative led by the Mayor’s Policy Office, will work with City departments and other research partners to determine the success of the ban. The evaluation will examine what type of bags people use, as well as plastic bag litter and waste across the city.

Correction (April 1, 2022): This article has been updated with the corrected fine for plastic bag violations.

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In the fall of 2017, a resident of western Albemarle County was surprised to see a caravan of dump trucks making their way up a rural road – into the woods.That’s where contractors for the University of Virginia dumped a mysterious green cargo – 199 tons of synthetic turf. The news alarmed a local parent, Kate Mallek. She knew that turf fields were filled with shredded tires that provide cushioning but contain potentially toxic chemicals.“We don’t allow burning of tires,” she says. “We don’t allow people to simply throw tires into our environment. They have some lead. There are also some carcinogenic substances in them. It’s not something we want in our water.”So-called crumb rubber also contains Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl Substances or PFAS, also known as forever chemicals because they break down slowly over time. Pete Myers, founder and chief scientist at Environmental Health Sciences – based in Charlottesville – says PFAS in turf could be dangerous.“Not only are the kids getting stuff on their skin – the tire crumb is all over the, but they’re probably breathing PFAS, which is a real problem,” he concludes.The Consumer Product Safety Commission says studies show no elevated health risk from playing on recycled rubber tires – a claim echoed by the industry.“The materials used in synthetic turf products have been thoroughly reviewed by both federal and state government agencies and are considered to be non-hazardous,” says Melanie Taylor, President and CEO of the Synthetic Turf Council, a group that represents manufacturers of artificial fields. She points to the first part of an EPA report as proof of safety, but the EPA – which reviewed scientific studies – said they were limited, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission said kids who play on surfaces made with recycled rubber should not eat or drink near the stuff and should wash hands and other exposed skin afterward.The EPA is now at work on a second study that will assess risk, and scientists in Europe have just published their analysis of 91 samples from synthetic turf fields around the world.“We are very worried about it,” says Jacob de Boer, a Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology at the Free University of Amsterdam. His team found all of the crumb rubber samples contained hazardous compounds – some exceeding safety standards set by the European Union for cancer-causing chemicals.“In this crumb rubber there are also these P-FAS compounds which have an effect on your immune system, and that effect is much more sensitive than for cancer,” de Boer says.He’s quick to add that risk is likely related to how long and how closely players are in contact with crumb rubber.“It’s not a matter of one game or one day or a week on this crumb rubber, but if you do it regularly, training for years, and you play all your matches there, then it is a problem, so the dose is important.”That said, Holland has now agreed to phase out crumb rubber fields by 2030. Here in the U.S., Melanie Taylor says manufacturers are looking at suitable substitutes for crumb rubber — Infills made of walnut shells or a mixture of coconut husks and cork, known as corkonut.And she predicts continued growth of her industry with as many as 16,000 synthetic fields already installed and up to 1,500 new ones going in every year. In our next report, we’ll talk about what happens when those fields wear out, and why environmentalists want Virginia to put new regulations in place.For more information:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721076208?via%3Dihubhttps://www.epa.gov/chemical-research/federal-research-recycled-tire-crumb-used-playing-fieldshttps://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/rubber-and-leather-material-specific-dataPART TWOWith the return of warm weather, more student athletes will be playing outside, many of them competing on artificial turf. Manufacturers say their product – made with recycled rubber tires – is an environmentally friendly alternative to grass, but with 16-thousand synthetic turf fields already in place nationwide and as many as 15-hundred more going in each year, disposal of worn-out fields poses a problem.

Artificial Turf Part Two

With 16,000 synthetic turf fields already installed, some experts wonder where they’ll go when they’re worn out.

Listen • 3:17

A typical turf field comes with a warranty of 8-12 years. When that time is up, the field, which is made from layers of plastic and shredded tires or crumb rubber, is hauled away. Mary Lehman, a delegate from Maryland, heard from a constituent who saw rolls of used turf sitting in a vacant lot.“The concern was that the crumb rubber infill was washing down the hill into a storm drain,” she recalls. “I think everyone can agree we don’t want that happening. We don’t want shredded tires to end up in our waterways, and in Maryland pretty much everything ends up in the Chesapeake Bay.”Because the stuff is bulky, Lehman says landfills in her state don’t accept artificial turf.“We really don’t know where it’s gong. It probably is mostly going out of state to Virginia where they either are land-filling or possibly incinerating the fields or the crumb rubber infill, and there are places in Virginia where they are allowed to burn rubber,” she says.Unscrupulous contractors may even dump turf in rural areas or find property owners willing to store the stuff for less than a landfill might charge.

Artificial turf fields last about ten years. Where they go next is a mystery.

At Prince William County’s Solid Waste Authority, Director Scott MacDonald thinks it’s unfair that cities or counties have to deal with artificial turf and other materials that can’t be recycled.“We didn’t buy the products. We didn’t sell the products, and we didn’t make the profits, but at the end of their life the public looks to us for a solution,” he explains.MacDonald would like to see Virginia join 47 other states that are members of the Product Stewardship Institute, headed by Scott Cassell. He helps write laws making producers of products responsible for their disposal.“There are 124 of these laws on the books for 15 product categories in 33 states – products like pharmaceuticals, medical sharps, mercury-containing products and Maine and Oregon just passed the first two state laws on packaging,” he says.And Cassell claims this approach works in other countries.“These type of systems have been in place in Europe for over 35 years on packaging, over 15 years in Canada and in other places all around the world. Companies will make changes to lower their costs, and these laws give them incentive. It’s really about making products with less material and more reusable and recyclable material.”During the last legislative session, Virginia Delegate Betsy Carr introduced a bill to require that manufacturers accept and properly dispose of or recycle their products. It died in committee.“Sometimes you bring up something new, it’s dismissed summarily the first time,” she observes, “but you know people begin to think about it and talk about it and maybe it takes a couple more years.”Lawmakers did agree to form a task force that would study it.In the meantime, Melanie Taylor with the Synthetic Turf Council notes worn-out fields can be re-used at local driving ranges, band practice fields, pet parks, bullpens and batting cages and equestrian stables.A Danish company says it will soon open a plant in Pennsylvania to recycle synthetic turf, and for now the industry argues it is conserving billions of gallons of water each year and eliminating the need for pesticides, fertilizers and mowing to maintain grass fields.

Microplastics from European rivers spreading to Arctic seas, research showsBetter waste management needed to protect Arctic ecosystem, say scientists Microplastics from European rivers are finding their way to Arctic seas, research suggests.These tiny plastic particles, which come from clothing fibres, car tyres, cosmetics and many more sources, have been found across the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water, as well as breathing them in. Microplastics have been shown to harm wildlife but the impact on people is not known, though microplastics do damage human cells in the laboratory.They have also been found in the Arctic, and until now the source of these tiny particles has not been known.A new study in Scientific Reports, led by Mats Huserbråten from the Institute of Marine Research, in Bergen, Norway, suggests particles in the Arctic Ocean, the Nordic Seas and Baffin Bay have spread from Europe.Companies race to stem flood of microplastic fibres into the oceansRead moreThe scientists used modelling to predict how many microplastic particles would be in certain parts of the ocean, and compared it with water samples from these places. Their analysis suggests microplastics have been circulating in the Arctic for at least a decade.To work it out, they combined models of ocean currents between 2007 and 2017 with simulations of floating microplastic movements. Then, they simulated the release of microplastics from 21 major rivers across northern Europe and the Arctic every day over a 10-year period and modelled their movements over decades. After this, they simulated the release of microplastics from 21 major rivers across northern Europe and the Arctic every day over a 10-year period and modelled their movements over decades, then compared the results of their model with the distribution of floating microplastics across 121 seawater samples that were collected from 17 sites off the west coast of Norway between May 2017 and August 2018.They found that most simulated particles drifted along two main pathways after being released from rivers, with 65% drifting along the Norwegian coast towards the Laptev Sea, north of Russia, before going to the Arctic Ocean, across the north pole, then exiting the Arctic Ocean via the Fram Strait east of Greenland. Thirty per cent went in another direction, travelling across Greenland then farther south along the north-east coast of Canada.Analysis of seawater found in each of these areas revealed the distribution of these floating microplastics was consistent with what was predicted by the models.The researchers warned that better waste management is required so the health of the Arctic ecosystem is not compromised.They said: “The equal distribution of sampled synthetic particles across water masses covering a wide time frame of anthropogenic influence suggests a system in full saturation rather than pronounced injection from European sources, through a complex circulation scheme connecting the entire Arctic Mediterranean. “This circulation of microplastic through Arctic ecosystems may have large consequences to natural ecosystem health, highlighting an ever-increasing need for better waste management.”Current methods to reduce microplastic release include adding filters to washing machines to catch particles. They can also be removed by some wastewater and drinking water treatments.TopicsPlasticsOceansArcticnewsReuse this content