Experts Advocate Eventual End to Single-Use Plastics, but Composites May Be Safe

A Senate hearing on March 30 underscored the widespread concern about single-use plastics, as experts and lawmakers discussed plastics pollution, plastic recycling, and the potential hazards of outsourcing plastics production to China.
Hota GangaRao, a composites specialist and professor at West Virginia University, and Chelsea Rochman, an ecologist and professor at the University of Toronto, both said single-use plastics may need to become a thing of the past, at least at some point to come.
Yet, they—along with both Democrats and Republicans—stressed the continued need for other plastics, including the polymer composites used in critical infrastructure.
“We should seriously think about eliminating or decreasing the use of one-time, single-use plastics,” said GangaRao in an exchange with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)….}