During the 1970s, plastic producers like Shell Oil and Dow Chemical encouraged the public to recycle plastic. The environmental movement was burgeoning. Public opinion of plastics was cratering, and many communities were banning the use of plastic bags and bottles threatening the oil and gas industry’s profits. Industry’s solution was to spend millions of dollars on ad campaigns hailing the ease of plastic recycling. The public bought into these feel-good recycling efforts. In fact, only 10% of the plastics ever produced have been recycled.

In communities across the nation, including Connecticut and Groton, plastic bag bans have been adopted to help clean the environment. Now, the plastics industry is using the pandemic to generate fear of virus contamination on reusable bags. They hope that bans on single-use plastic bags will be rescinded. There is no credible science-based evidence that reusable plastic or cloth bags are more prone to carry viruses than single-use plastic bags.

Don’t let the oil industry destroy our resolution to improve the environment. Ask your state representatives, senators, and Groton Town Council members to preserve single-use plastic bag bans.

Carol Oviatt

Groton