It was a decade ago when California became the first state in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags, ushering in a wave of anti-plastic legislation from coast to coast.
But in the years after California seemingly kicked its plastic grocery sack habit, material recovery facilities and environmental activists noticed a peculiar trend: Plastic bag waste by weight was increasing to unprecedented levels.
According to a report by the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG, 157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California the year the law was passed. By 2022, however, the tonnage of discarded plastic bags had skyrocketed to 231,072 — a 47% jump. Even accounting for an increase in population, the number rose from 4.08 tons per 1,000 people in 2014 to 5.89 tons per 1,000 people in 2022.
The problem, it turns out, was a section of the law that allowed grocery stores and large retailers to provide thicker, heavier-weight plastic bags to customers for the price of a dime.
They did this in the UK and it worked. The Cali law just has dumb ass loopholes in it.
That’s cause we didn’t actually ban them. Neo Liberals thought people would stop using them if they had to pay 10 cents.
Turns out, nobody cared. We need an actual ban.
Not OP, but that’s what we did in the UK too… I’m honestly confused reading the post and the comments calling California out on this. I must be misunderstanding something because we did the same thing and it really, really worked. The UK led the charge on the concept of ‘nudges’ like this and it’s been successful and widely praised. We still have thick plastic bags that you buy for 10p, but most people really do keep some on hand for most situations so plastic dumping has been significantly reduced.
Somewhere a Social Anthropologist is lining up their PhD paper.
The ‘nudges’ thing is contested. It’s basically from one book and the studies that used it mostly showed temporary single digit differences. Then there’s a lot of celebration that “the rate of change is picking up!” before long term effects fail to emerge. It falls smack dab in the center of the replication crisis.
A lot more direct action is required to make sizeable changes, like outreach campaigns and actually trying to change people’s minds/behavior.
Fair enough, thank you for clarifying! ‘replication crisis’ were the first words in my head as soon as I saw the top line of your comment haha.
Yup. They just created more waste. We need to make the jump to no plastic bags. It’s time, we can do it.
My city banned plastic bags and it costs 10 cents for paper bags so you definitely see a lot more cloth bags being brought in. Just at grocery stores, you still get take out in plastic bags every so often but most places just switched to all paper
Our city is the same but they sell you and even thicker plastic bag for 10 cents. No paper options. (Safeway)
I did notice an option at Kroger or maybe it was Walmart when you do pickup they won’t use plastic bags. I have a big shopping basket I accidentally liberated from the store years ago that stays in the back of the car they put the stuff in.
Would it not work to do like we do for refundable cans? QR code or barcode on the bag to verify and store drop off for a refund of this 10/15¢. People would go out of their way to collect and drop these off at facilities that could accept and recycle these.
you can’t really recycle a regular plastic bag, the materials used are “bottom of the food chain”. around here they recycle bottles and containers, but use wrappings and bags to heat up the regular garbage incinerators…
LOL my wife would come home with brand new plant liners. WTF! You can just vacuum form these things and reuse them as furniture.
Germany did this years ago. Seems to work. You can still get plastic bags, but you have to pay for them.
That’s what the article is saying.
The intent was to drop plastic usage. It did, but plastic usage multiplied because the plastic bags people are paying for contain more plastic than before.
Another German law states that if you make a product, like a plastic bag, you must pay for its disposal after use. That way, if a product changes, the manufacturer bears the cost. Does drive prices up, though.
That is such an idiotic loophole there is no way in hell it wasn’t bought by lobbyists
The whole scheme is a farce designed to take what was once complimentary and turn it into a highly profitable side business. It’s the same the world over.
Yeah. Why are they even offering these? Use paper for instacart shoppers only. Everyone else needs to bring their own. Why is it so hard to put this into play?
Coming from a country that did this ages ago for stupid reasons.
Wait until they come for your straws. Cutting down trees for paper bags I can deal with but fucking paper straws (Mcdonalds im looking at you) is god awful.
Edit: downvoters getting sour about the paper bags consuming trees is a reality and cost of shifting resources. So do we create enormous plastic waste and destroy the environment or do we cut down trees and destroy the atmosphere. Policy change requires constructive thought, critical thought to test, and balance (not always but considered) to get the best outcome.
There are compostable straws that work quite well. Also maybe just use a metal straw, or bring your own cup, no need to have disposable everything.
Metal straw I can get bahind but other straw types just dont make it to market because money. Personally just take the lid off and use a cup like an adult.
God the fictional line of just bring your own cup. No one brings their own cup to Mcdonalds. No one. They dont accept them now anyway. Their soda machines are automated for their own cups. Their trajectory is hire less people buy more robots.
