Report: California’s Plastic-Bag Ban Led To More Plastic Bag Waste
by Joel B. Pollak Aug 19, 2024 in News Reading Time: 3 mins read
California’s 2014 ban on thin plastic grocery bags caused more plastic bag waste, not less, according to the Wall Street Journal. [emphasis, links added]
Breitbart News covered the fight over the plastic bag ban — the first by any state in the nation — in 2014, noting that the ban was a regressive tax on consumers that would benefit large grocery chains, who could charge ten cents per bag for heavier, government-approved plastic bags that were, in theory, more reusable than the thinner ones.
Ten years later, the amount of plastic bag waste per California resident has risen by almost 50%, the Journal notes:
https://climatechangedispatch.com/report-californias-plastic-bag-ban-led-to-more-plastic-bag-waste/