Plastic-bag bans nationwide have seen a dip in compliance due to the COVID-19 pandemic with communities from Anchorage to New York City delaying or suspending enforcement measures in 2020. The Haines Borough has also seen a dip in compliance, although it never officially suspended its ban.
In May 2019, the borough assembly approved an ordinance banning “single-use, non-compostable plastic shopping bags for the purpose of carrying away goods from the point of sale,” with the exception of plastic bags used by customers to package bulk items. The ordinance took effect on Jan. 1, 2020, but after COVID-19 hit Alaska, compliance waned.
Assembly member Paul Rogers said he doesn’t think the borough ever explicitly told businesses they could ignore the bag ban.
“I don’t think that there was anything official that I’m aware of. I think it just kind of happened because the grocery stores and other businesses did not want to use bags that were taken home and then brought back in again because they didn’t really know the nature of transmitting COVID-19 at that point in time,” Rogers said at a Feb. 16 Solid Waste Working Group (SWWG) meeting.
Early on in the pandemic, there was less data available about how COVID-19 spreads and greater concern that the virus might spread through surfaces.
A number of local retailers initially banned reusable bags for the same reason, SWWG member Shannon Donahue said at the same Feb. 16 meeting.
Olerud’s Market Center is one store that returned to offering plastic bags after the pandemic’s onset.
When the pandemic first started, “people throughout Southeast were turning away from reusable bags,” Olerud’s owner Sarah Swinton said. She said she remembers being told that the store didn’t need to comply with the bag ban due to COVID-19 concerns, although she doesn’t remember who she heard this from.
Swinton said Olerud’s is once again allowing customers to bring in reusable bags. “It’s whatever the customer prefers.” She said the store will likely continue to offer plastic bags as an option at checkout until she hears from the borough that this is unacceptable.
There is little uniformity in the way Alaskan communities with plastic-bag bans have adapted these policies to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unalaska, which had a bag ban take effect at the start of 2019, made no pandemic-driven changes and has continued to have “pretty good compliance,” clerk Marjie Veeder said, based on personal observation. She said the town’s grocery store has continued to allow reusable bags with the caveat that “if you bring your own bag, they would like you to do your own bagging.”
Some communities that initially suspended their bag bans have reinstated them as more information has become available about COVID-19 transmission.
Like Haines, Homer had a plastic-bag ban go into effect at the start of 2020. Unlike Haines, Homer City Council voted to temporarily suspend the ban in March 2020, and voted again in November to reinstate the ban at the start of the new year.
Health officials say surfaces aren’t a significant transmission concern.
“The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services does not think surfaces provide much risk for COVID-19, and reusable bags are unlikely to pose a risk for COVID-19 transmission,” department spokesperson Clinton Bennett said, referencing information available on the CDC website. “Currently, no cases of COVID-19 have been identified where infection was thought to have occurred by touching food, food packaging or shopping bags,” he said.
Bennett noted that relaxing plastic-bag bans could make it easier to practice other pandemic mitigation measures like curbside grocery pick up and takeout from restaurants.
The CDC does have recommendations for how to safely use reusable grocery bags, including washing bags when they become dirty and encouraging employees to wash their hands after handling reusable bags.
At the Feb. 16 Solid Waste Working Group meeting, members discussed the need for greater outreach and education in order to promote Haines’ plastic bag ban. The group didn’t specify how they plan to make this happen.