The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the balance between sustainability and human safety on a global scale. After more than six years of momentum for banning a variety of single-use plastic types, the pandemic brought many of these achievements to a standstill. On December 15, 2020, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts that explored the pandemic’s repercussions for overconsumption of single-use plastics. This Dialogue presents a transcript of the discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.

Millions of tons of plastic enter the environment every year, killing wildlife, releasing toxins, clogging drains, and marring landscapes. Bans or restrictions on single-use plastics have exploded in popularity in recent years as a means of addressing these problems. Yet these bans remain controversial, with some businesses pushing back against what they consider excessive regulation and others maintaining that banning single-use plastics uses political capital that could be spent advancing more urgent and systemic agendas. On October 16, 2019, the Environmental Law Institute hosted an expert panel that explored the benefits and challenges of an increasingly popular, but contentious, approach to the problem of plastic pollution. This Article presents a transcript of the discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.