Cali Lawmakers Admit the Plastic Bag Ban Backfired, So They’re Doubling Down

[KenH]

"In September 2014 California became the first US state to ban plastic grocery bags, kicking off a national trend.
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Though the law was sold as a “win-win for the environment” by lawmakers, a decade later it’s clear the bill was no such thing, something California lawmakers today concede.

“California’s original ban on plastic bags hasn’t worked out as planned,” said State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, “and sadly, the state’s plastic bag waste has increased dramatically since it went into effect.”
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New Jersey, for example, saw a threefold increase in plastic consumption for grocery bags, according to research. The Garden State’s law was similar to California’s.
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The problem was, much like in California, customers were only using the bags a few times before trashing them, and according the New York Times, a typical polypropylene bag must be used “at least 10 times” for it to offset the additional energy required to manufacture them compared to the thin bag.
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Instead of simply rescinding the statewide ban on thin plastic grocery bags, which backfired so badly, California lawmakers decided to ban all plastic grocery bags in stores.
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One reason thin plastic bags are popular is that they are convenient and efficient: the bags are light, cheap, and can be discarded after a single use. Heavy duty bags cost much more, but higher costs are not the only secondary consequence.

Heavy duty bags also require a great deal more maintenance. They must be washed routinely, which requires energy. The amount of energy it requires to wash reusable bags is higher than the amount of energy it takes to produce single-use plastic grocery bags, sustainability researchers say.
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But higher energy and monetary costs are not the only secondary consequences. If heavy-duty reusable bags are not washed routinely and stored properly, they can become riddled with germs and bacteria, health department warn, particularly E. coli and Salmonella, which can cause food poisoning.
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The best case scenario for California’s law is that in exchange for a bit less plastic trash, consumers will spend a great deal of time, energy, and money maintaining their reusable cotton shopping bags. The worst case scenario (or one of them) is that consumers will not spend sufficient time and energy maintaining their heavy tote bags, and as a result the state will experience a spike in foodborne illnesses."

- rest of article at Cali Lawmakers Admit the Plastic Bag Ban Backfired, So They're Doubling Down | The Daily Economy

 

[Van]

No one in their right mind would advocate

1) The elimination of fossil fueled vehicles by an arbitrary date, rather than by market forces.

2) The elimination of "fracking" without a sound basis.

3) A reduction in USA CO2 emissions, at high cost and misery, while doing nothing to reduce world-wide emissions.

4) An open border while making law enforcement less effective.

The mind-boggling question is why do more than half the voters vote for these advocates?

 

[37818]

The main thing the California plastic bag ban did was to cost shoppers 10 cents per plastic bag.

 

[Deacon]

New Jersey’s Plastic Bag Ban Backfires Big Time

• New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic and paper bags in 2022.
• Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times from the use of heavier, reusable bags, increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the use of bags by 500 percent.
• The reusable bags were used only 2 or 3 times before being misplaced or disposed of—not the 16 times needed to positively impact the environment.
• A typical store profits about $200,000 per store location from alternative bag sales.

An in-depth cost analysis found a typical store can profit $200,000 per store from alternative bag sales. For one major retailer, it amounted to an estimated $42 million in profit across all its bag sales in New Jersey. The only ones hurt were consumers, who were forced to buy reusable plastic bags.

Conclusion
New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022–the strictest ban on bags in the nation at the time, supposedly to cut back on plastic bags piling up in landfills. Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the use of bags by 500 percent following the state’s implementation of the ban. New Jersey also banned paper bags making grocery store patrons use reusable totes instead. Shop owners profited from the sale of the reusable bags that were used only 2 or 3 times before being misplaced or disposed of. New Jersey’s plastic bag ban misfired and similar to other green initiatives, no serious cost-benefit analysis was conducted before implementing the ban.

 

[37818]

The governor of California signed into law a 2026 plastic bag ban. Requiring grocerie store customers to bring their own reusable bag(s) or pay a fee per paper bag.