It was first increased in 2021 — 40 years after its creation. Researchers say inflation has left the tax’s effectiveness in the dust.
James River Park System Superintendent Giles Garrison is no stranger to litter.
“The James, as the collector of water and the city’s drinking water resource,” Garrison said, “is the place where we see it the most.”
According to Garrison, the park system is dependent on volunteers and hosts cleanups weekly. There’s just one issue: “It doesn’t go away.”
Zachary Huntington, associate director of the Ocean Conservancy–affiliated nonprofit Clean Virginia Waterways at Longwood University, said there’s more trash to go around these days — particularly single-use plastics.
“In the late ’90s, there were something like 2 billion water bottles sold every year in the United States. By 2020, that number was over 90 billion,” Huntington said.
According to a new CVW report authored by Huntington, Virginia has the lowest per capita litter tax revenue of any state with such a policy. He said that’s just not enough to keep pace with plastics.
Source : VPM
