2020 is shaping up to be an even more eventful year for debates around plastic waste and plastic pollution than 2019 was. And that's saying a lot, considering that 2019 opened with plastic bag bans in two states, California and Hawaii, but will close out with six more.
The pace of plastics packaging legislation continued, even as 2019 wound down. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for example, proposed on Dec. 17 that his state add a polystyrene foam food packaging ban — New York already has a bag ban.
In January, California's legislature is expected to take up huge packaging bills that nearly passed last year, and other states will also keep debating plastics and packaging laws. More than 200 bills related to plastics pollution were introduced in 34 states in 2019, according to the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators.
On the federal level, Congress, with several legislative proposals of its own and the formation Dec. 10 of the Congressional Plastics Solutions Task Force, will keep elevating the issue.