Building on the growing concern and increased willingness to take action to decrease the amount of plastic waste in Virginia’s environment, now is the time to craft policies and laws that will keep man-made waste out of Virginia’s streams, rivers, and coastal waters. We can do this by eliminating the most harmful types of mismanaged waste, incentivizing sustainable disposal of what we do use, and prioritizing the shift to sustainable and reusable products.

Pat Calvert

REDUCING SINGLE-USE PLASTICS, LITTER, AND MARINE DEBRIS IN VIRGINIA
ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE CHEMICAL CONVERSION INDUSTRY

• Fund key water quality programs at levels consistent with achieving the goals of the Watershed Implementation Plan (see chapter Meeting Our Chesapeake Bay Clean-Up Goals, p. 1).
• Fund land conservation programs (see Healthy, Resilient Communities and Landscapes, p. 88).
• Increase funding for key state environmental agencies to levels adequate with programmatic needs, including programs to address resiliency and climate change needs.
• Fund and ensure rapid and thorough integration of environmental justice mandates. See additional recommendations in Working Towards Environmental Justice (p. 118).
• Ensure Virginia’s natural resources programs are adequately and reliably funded going forward by adopting dedicated funding mechanisms, such as application of the full statewide recordation fee revenue (see Exploring Dedicated Funding for Conservation, p. 94).

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Check back in January for talking points for the 2022 General Assembly Session.