California's war on plastic bag use seems to have backfired. Lawmakers are trying again
California's war on plastic bag use seems to have backfired. Lawmakers are trying again
Ten years after California passed landmark legislation to reduce plastic bag use, the tonnage of discarded bags has skyrocketed. What happened?
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.
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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.
I refuse to buy into the scam u can now find me balancing my groceries intop of eavhother as i try navugate from my car to my kitchen. Yes i know i could use a reusable bag but i always forget.
What made the difference for me was buying a really nice reusable bag. There's a brand called Flip and Tumble. They'll hold an absurd amount of stuff (something like 35lbs, if I remember correctly) and fold down into something smaller than a tennis ball. I keep two in the bottom of my purse and never need a bag. They are expensive (about $18 US), but I've had mine for almost 15 years.
You & me both. Yes I have a few in the car. No I'm not going back to get it. I'll probably make it without dropping something.
Its just a small, unnecessary moment of tension in my day. And its mine.
The fillip to retailers is incidental I suspect. The aim of plastic manufacturers when they engage in the lawmaking process is probably safeguarding their ability to produce plastic at an uninterrupted level. They're happy to reduce total units provided the units are heavier. The environmental impact doesn't matter: government and industry will continue forcing the recycling meme so it looks as though the conservation angle is covered. Once their part of the problem is solved, the problem no longer exists :^)
You described most CA laws - don't get me started on CARB and how is just pushing us toward bigger, less efficient cars while killing innovation by smaller engineering shops
I'ma have to get you started. Explain yourself.
It has virtually nothing to do with emissions (as if it did, they would just hook up a sniffer to test and be fine)- instead there are blanket bans on any modification not from Edelbrock or a s couple others unless those companies pay exorbitant fees to be "CARB-approved" which has snuffed out innovation from smaller machine shops. And the loopholes are what has driven cars to be bigger and not more fuel efficient
I'ma second. This is officiallly unofficial permission to begin your dissertation on unforeseen consequences. I'm here for this.
As the asker of the question and someone who is vaguely interested in maybe one day getting into hot rod building to have an electric that doesn't have those blasted touch screens, by all means, get started on it.
Totally was. In NJ, those poor saps were sold by the grocer lobbyists that the paper and plastic bag ban was good for reducing the amount of plastic bags. NJ is now seeing that there was no reduction in waste, but rather than cost being passed into the consumer. I lol’d so hard because “I told you so”
News 12 reported it on TV, so no, I have no link, but you can go find one.
Same shit, different set of idiots.