1. Single Use Plastics and Fairfax County
Prepared by
Wendy Cohen
Program Manager

2. We
have a
problem

3. TRUE or FALSE? Trash in Fairfax County streams can contribute to plastics pollution in the Atlantic ocean
TRUE

4. Litter goes with the stream flow:
It’s not just our problem

5. Our litter contributes to worldwide marine debris

6. While litterers are one source, often single use plastics blow out of open trash cans, dumpsters, and trucks.

7. Per year, the average person uses baggies (sandwich bags) 425 plastic grocery bags 129 plastic disposable water bottles 500 disposable coffee cups, usually Styrofoam (office workers) (Source: Over 1 million people in Fairfax County: >965,000,000 plastic bags (only 2% recycled) >129,000,000 water bottles (23-37% recycled >250,000 disposable coffee cups (not recyclable) Note: Number based on estimated # of office workers from 2015 census (Sources: EPA, International Bottled Water Association, fairfaxcounty.gov/demographicreport)
Researchers fear that such ubiquitous bags may never fully decompose; instead they gradually just turn into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. The most common type of plastic shopping bag is made of polyethylene, a petroleum-derived polymer that microorganisms don’t recognize as food and as such cannot technically “biodegrade.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines biodegradation as “a process by which microbial organisms transform or alter (through metabolic or enzymatic action) the structure of chemicals introduced into the environment.” In “respirometry” tests, whereby experimenters put solid waste in a container with microbe-rich compost and then add air to promote biodegradation, newspapers and banana peels decompose in days or weeks, while plastic shopping bags are not affected.
Even though polyethylene can’t biodegrade, it does break down when subject to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, a process known as photodegradation. 
Even then, estimates say it takes years to break down .

8. THEY NEVER REALLY GO AWAY!!
Plastic SLOWLY breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces but from sun exposure (photodegrade) rather than microbes (biodegrade).

9. If you only used reusable bags during your lifetime, you would take 22,000 plastic bags out of the waste stream!
Each spring, Fairfax Water flushes its water mains by opening fire hydrants and allowing them to flow freely for a short period of time. They do this to maintain the high water quality in their distribution system. You will likely notice Fairfax Water personnel in your neighborhood operating hydrants from late March through June. 

10. Reusable bags and bottles are a wiser choice if they are reused often because they are cheaper over time X
About 55 percent of bottled water in the United States is spring water, including Crystal Geyser and Arrowhead. The other 45 percent comes from the municipal water supply, meaning that companies, including Aquafina and Dasani, simply treat tap water—the same stuff that comes out of your faucet at home—and bottle it up.Aug 11, 2014 Bottled Water Comes From the Most Drought-Ridden Places in the ...
At over $1.00 a bottle, that can add up!

11. And reusables don’t end up in our parks and streams
See any
reusables here?

12. There are lots of sustainable choices