Remember when California banned all single-use plastic bags? You know, to save the planet?
Well it turns out all the reusable plastic bags that stores replaced them with are...well, killing the planet.
Yep. Data shows that in 2014, the year the Golden State outlawed free single-use plastic bags in retail establishments, a total of 157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California. This was clearly getting in the government's way of taking control via a "green energy" initiative harming the baby seals, so state lawmakers banned free plastic bags. But the law did allow stores to sell plastic bags - provided they were recyclable, and not single-use.
So, still needing to give shoppers a way to cart out their groceries, stores started offering heavy, thicker plastic bags to the tune of about 10 cents a bag, branding them as "reusable" totes.
The result? Even more plastic waste!
The LA Times reports that by 2022, "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."
Related: Caught Red-Handed – ‘Rebellion’ Climate Protestors Attack Constitution
It turns out people are still dumping their plastic bags - because plastic bags get gross, and no one wants to forever reuse a gunky, beat-up bag. Except now, tossing a single plastic bag into the garbage - which was going to happen anyway - contributes three times as much plastic waste, given that the bag is made of thicker, heavier stuff.
California's solution? MORE LAWS!
State legislators are now eyeing a bill that would ban these heavier plastic bags, forcing customers to either huff in their own totes (many of which are still made of plastic, and still gonna get tossed eventually) or requiring stores to offer canvas bags at much higher rates, further penalizing customers already struggling under the rising cost of gas and groceries. In the meantime, another recent California law targets the manufacturing and use of all single-use plastic items, requiring that at least 30% of plastic items in the state be recyclable, rising to 65% by 2032.
Can't wait to see how the laws of unintended consequences work out for this one, too.
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