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“The plastic industry is sticking to the talking points that they used well before COVID and will use long after COVID: that plastic is the most hygienic choice, we need plastic, COVID proves we need plastic,” said Sarah King, head of Greenpeace Canada’s plastic and oceans campaign. “But those claims are not based in science.”
A growing body of research has found that plastic is one of the surfaces the novel coronavirus can live on longest, versus porous materials like cloth and paper that have lower retention. The transmission via any surface is also considered low-risk. But the perception that disposable is safer has shaped guidelines from the B.C. Ministry of Health that require businesses to provide single-use packaging for takeout, and which forbid customers from using their own containers for meals or groceries.
Bringing back the milk man model
To investigate the container rule, I headed to the Soap Dispensary on Main Street, Vancouver’s first refill store, which stocks specialty soaps, cleaners, personal care products and groceries — all in bulk. I thought the owner, Linh Truong, would know if we really need single-use packaging to survive a pandemic. After all, her entire business was built on refilling containers.
On the Friday afternoon of my visit, a few 30-somethings waited outside next to upside-down plastic pails, set six feet apart on the sidewalk for social distancing. That was about the last plastic I saw.
Inside, along a wall of reusable tiffins, compostable scrubbers and wooden spoons, cardboard boxes were overflowing with individual rolls of toilet paper, dry goods stapled into paper bags, and glass jars of coloured oils, soaps and drinks — online orders waiting for pickup.
On the opposite counter, where customers used to check out, employees read orders off a tablet to build the tailor-made boxes. “Since our online orders started, I have never seen that counter clear,” Truong said through a face mask patterned with fortune cookie shapes.
In the scary days following B.C.’s declaration of a public health emergency, Truong had to figure out how to keep her business alive without the foot traffic or weekend lineups she’d come to rely on since opening in 2011. Then came the container ban. She thought for sure she’d have to close.
“That’s the whole point of running a zero-waste business,” Truong said. “But we also offer essential products like soaps, sanitizers and rubbing alcohol and felt this real need to stay open for our customers.”
During a deep clean of the entire store, down to the door knobs, Truong had an idea. She could follow existing models like Earnest Ice Cream and Avalon milk that offer products in glass jars and bottles, which customers buy and return for a $1 deposit. Truong was already doing that for bulk yogurt, which stores are not allowed to refill. She’d just have to scale up and reinforce her sanitation.
Fast forward and Truong has purchased nearly 10,000 glass jars in three different sizes, plus another 10,000 paper bags, most of which are made from 100 per cent recycled paper. She also bought a high-temperature dishwasher on the advice of Vancouver Coastal Health, which approved her new system but said to consider all incoming jars “contaminated.” Truong has invested nearly $15,000 to keep her business open, and as low-waste as possible. Luckily, her sales have bounced back.
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