Plastic bag bans

There is some evidence that plastic bag bans reduce the use and availability of single-use plastic bags covered by the ban (Ferran 2023, Homonoff 2022, EA-Sokolow 2024, UNEP 2018). Well-designed bans can increase use of reusable cloth and paper bags, and instances of shoppers not taking a bag (EA-Sokolow 2024, Ferran 2023). Bans that prohibit only lightweight plastic bags (i.e. less than 2.25 millimeters thick) can have unintended consequences increasing availability and use of thicker plastic bags (EA-Sokolow 2024, Muposhi 2021, Homonoff 2022, Taylor 2019, UNEP 2018). For example, in California, legislation that addressed only lightweight plastic bags reduced carryout plastic bags by 40 million pounds, but increased plastic trash bag purchases by 12 million pounds (Taylor 2019). Still, experts suggest bans are the most effective way to manage the growing crisis of plastic bag litter (EA-Sokolow 2024, Muposhi 2021), though plastic bag bans alone do not sufficiently address high plastic waste generated in the U.S. (Law 2020). Additional evidence is needed to confirm effects, especially in the U.S. context.

In a Philadelphia-based study, a plastic bag ban reduced plastic bag use, increased paper bag use, and overall reduced use of disposable bags (Ferran 2023). In a Chicago-based study, a ban decreased lightweight plastic bag use; however, many stores instead offered free, thicker plastic bags containing five times more plastic than standard grocery bags, undermining any environmental benefits (Homonoff 2022). Multicomponent regulations including comprehensive bans and disposable bag taxes or fees are more effective at reducing the use and environmental impact of disposable bags than narrow bans (Homonoff 2022).

Bans in Africa, Asia, and Europe have reduced use of plastic bags covered by the legislation; however, reductions vary from 20% to 90% and more research is needed to confirm effects (Muposhi 2021, Adeyanju 2021, Nielsen 2019). Regulation design, capacity to monitor and enforce implementation, and substitution options influence effectiveness and vary substantially between countries (Muposhi 2021, Adeyanju 2021, Banu 2019, Nielsen 2019). Some substitutions for single-use plastic bags are not environmentally friendly, especially alternative plastics such as thicker plastic bags, trash bags, or plastic wrapping products together (Muposhi 2021, Adeyanju 2021, Banu 2019). The effectiveness of bans is undermined by the power of the plastic industry, which lobbies for self-regulation, emphasizes consumer responsibility, and urges business solutions rather than government regulation (Muposhi 2021). Bans are also undermined by thriving black markets and retailer resistance, especially in developing countries (Muposhi 2021, Nielsen 2019).

Well-designed bans can reduce air and water pollution from the production, use, and disposal of plastic bags (EA-Sokolow 2024). Bans can reduce waste and litter (OECD-Cornago 2021). Plastic bags disposed of on land can be blown into lakes, rivers, or oceans and become plastic pollution which has devastating effects, including strangulation from entanglement and fatal digestive complications, on marine mammals, sea turtles, sea birds (EA-Sokolow 2024), fish, and endangered wildlife (Muposhi 2021, Kish 2018). After animals eat plastic, toxic chemicals are found in their tissues, which then can enter the human food chain (UNEP 2018). Plastic bag litter clogs sewer drains and waterways, which increases flooding and standing unclean water that can breed bugs and harmful bacteria (Muposhi 2021, UNEP 2018, Kish 2018). Plastic bags and single-use plastics use fossil fuels for energy and production materials, generating greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate climate change (OECD-Plastic, Project Drawdown-Plastics).

Successful bans include education to help consumers understand reasons and benefits of reducing one-time plastic bag use, which improves consumer attitudes, motivation, and behaviors (Adeyanju 2021, Kish 2018, Xanthos 2017, Banu 2019). Educational components can include school instruction to teach students about oceans, waste management, and pollution; children can be influential in changing behaviors among their peers, their families, and their communities (Xanthos 2017). Governments should engage as many stakeholders as possible when designing legislation and policies to curb plastic pollution (UNEP 2018). Legislation can be part of comprehensive initiatives that include financial incentives for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers supporting awareness, innovation, and research and development of sustainable, recyclable alternatives that fit within a circular model of production, consumption, and recycling (UNEP 2018). Plastic bag bans that include fees charged for paper bags may be more successful in encouraging consumers to bring their own reusable bags (EA-Sokolow 2024). Plastic bag bans, taxes, or recycling requirements need to be enforced to have environmental benefits (OECD-Cornago 2021, Banu 2019, Kish 2018). Experts suggest a global treaty and multi-component, comprehensive efforts are needed to address the transient nature of plastic bag litter and to support a circular economy that recovers and recycles existing plastic bags and limits the creation of new plastic waste (Muposhi 2021).

Plastic bag litter imposes large costs on society (Muposhi 2021); experts estimate that U.S. cities spend between $3.2 and $7.9 billion annually on cleaning up plastic bag litter (Taylor 2016a). Plastic bags cannot be recycled with standard equipment; bags clog and damage recycling machines and repairs are expensive and dangerous (Ferran 2023, Kish 2018). An Ohio-based study estimates that dealing with discarded plastic bags at the local level costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year (Bartolotta 2021). California’s plastic bag and litter clean-up costs are estimated at over $400 million annually (Kish 2018). International reports estimate aquatic ecosystem damages from plastic litter and microplastic pollution to be approximately $13 billion in U.S. dollars each year (Muposhi 2021, UNEP 2014). Tourism around the world has lost significant revenue because plastic bag litter reduces the recreational value and visual appeal of landscapes and the seashore (Muposhi 2021, Xanthos 2017). Critics of plastic bag bans note that they increase inconvenience for shoppers, increase costs for alternative bags, create an enforcement burden for governments, and may cause job losses and disinvestment in the plastic industry (Muposhi 2021, Nielsen 2019). Alternative disposable bags have their own environmental costs; for example, paper bags are easy to recycle but require more energy to produce than plastic bags (Ferran 2023). Manufacturers of plastic bags suggest plastic bags can be cost-effective if used within a comprehensive recycling program; however, many environmentalists disagree, noting the extremely low recycling rates for plastic bags (Kish 2018).

An Ohio-based study suggests most consumers support reducing access to single-use plastic bags with legislative bans and store policies because voluntary actions are not sufficient (Bartolotta 2021). Across the U.S., plastic bag legislation varies by geography and depends on political party control of state legislatures. State-wide legislation is more likely to be adopted in states where local legislation already exists, in areas with more green, sustainable efforts underway, and in states with more shoreline area (Bell 2022). State preemption laws limit plastic bag legislation adoption in eighteen states, mostly in the Midwest and the South (Bell 2022, NCSL-State PBB legislation).

Plastic bag bans have the potential to decrease disparities in exposure to plastic pollution, especially between communities of color with low incomes and white communities with higher incomes (UNEP 2021). Available data shows plastic production facilities and waste management facilities including landfills, waste incinerators, and legal and illegal hazardous waste sites are disproportionately located in communities with more residents of color and people with low incomes (Martuzzi 2010, UNEP 2021). Conventional waste management practices disproportionately impact the well-being and health of communities of color with low incomes (Martuzzi 2010). Approximately half of all plastic bags are disposed of after only one use and data estimates suggest the world generates 8.4 million tons of plastic bag litter annually (Muposhi 2021, UNEP 2018). This contributes to air, land, and water pollution around the globe (Muposhi 2021), especially in communities experiencing concentrated poverty (UNEP 2021). Plastic bag bans are an opportunity to address and begin to remedy the environmental injustices communities of color with low incomes have suffered from plastic waste and plastic pollution (UNEP 2021).

There is the potential for plastic bag bans to generate extra expenses for people that were using single-use plastic bags for secondary purposes such as to pick up pet waste or as small trash bags; it would be a relatively greater burden to buy alternative products for people with lower incomes than people with higher incomes (Li 2017a). Research is needed to assess whether some populations experience a greater burden from inconveniences caused by plastic bag bans, including among people of color, people who are older, people with lower incomes, and people using public transportation (Bartolotta 2021). These potential effects of plastic bag bans could be alleviated by and largely depend on how retailers and policy makers design, implement, and enforce the bans (Bartolotta 2021).

Plastic is cheap to manufacture, versatile, strong, and durable, which has made it a major part of consumer culture around the world (Nielsen 2019). Plastic production has been on the rise since the 1950s, with many plastic products designed to be discarded after only one use (UNEP 2018). In the 1970s, manufacturers introduced plastic bags that were lightweight and easy to store, could be produced in large numbers, and were waterproof (Bell 2022). Plastic bag production increased rapidly and by the 1990s about 60% of bags offered in stores were plastic (Bell 2022).

About one trillion plastic bags are produced every year, a massive source of consumer waste with severe environmental effects (Bell 2022). In 2015, plastic bags made up 47% of the roughly 6,300 metric tons of global plastic waste and only 9% of that plastic waste was recycled, while 12% was burned and 79% was buried in landfills or abandoned in the environment (Adeyanju 2021). Data show that only 1% of plastic bags are recycled globally (Muposhi 2021). China is the largest generator of plastic bag waste and the U.S. is the largest per capita generator of plastic packaging waste (Adeyanju 2021). Plastic litter, including plastic bags, has accumulated in the oceans in such massive quantities that the world has named one debris-filled region the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (Muposhi 2021). The plastic industry has misled the public for decades, falsely claiming that plastic recycling is a viable solution to the plastic waste crisis to prevent regulation or legislation from addressing plastic waste and pollution (CCI-Allen 2024). However, recycling plastic is not technically or economically possible for most types of plastic. Collecting, sorting, cleaning, and processing plastic requires costly infrastructure and the potential is very limited by wide variation in types of plastic, by toxic and chemical additives in plastic that leach during processing, by the degrading quality of the recycled product, and by limited demand (CCI-Allen 2024). In many areas, plastic products will be collected for recycling and then put in landfills (CCI-Allen 2024).

In 2002, Bangladesh was the first country to pass plastic bag ban legislation to address this issue, after severe floods were exacerbated by plastic bag litter in 1989 and 1998, killing many people and leaving two-thirds of the country covered with water (Muposhi 2021, UNEP 2018). The city of San Francisco was the first to ban single-use plastic bags in the U.S. in 2007, followed by Malibu in 2008, Palo Alto in 2009, and Los Angeles County in 2011 (Taylor 2016a). Plastic bag legislation has tripled since 2010 and plastic bag bans are the most common form of government legislation used to address plastic pollution (Nielsen 2019, OECD-Cornago 2021, Wang 2022d). As of 2014, there were over 55 city and county plastic bag bans in effect in California (Taylor 2016a) and in September 2014, California became the first U.S. state to adopt legislation addressing single-use plastic bags; this law did not ban plastic bags, however, it prohibited businesses from providing them for free (Kish 2018). Six states followed California’s example, with New York, Maine, Delaware, Vermont, Oregon, and Connecticut passing laws in 2019. As of 2022, 11 states and more than 300 local governments in the U.S. have implemented legislation to address plastic bags (Wang 2022d). The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) started a global campaign in 2017 to reduce plastic litter that encourages all countries to stop the spread of single-use plastic bags and microplastics (Kish 2018).

In the U.S. there are several state legislatures using state preemption laws to prohibit local governments from regulating or restricting plastic items. Michigan was the first state to pass a preemption law in 2017 that prohibits any local law from addressing disposable plastics, including bags, Styrofoam containers, or other packaging. Efforts to block plastic bag bans and disposable plastic regulations primarily protect the profitability of the plastics industry (UNEP 2018). As of 2022, 19 states have adopted state preemption laws to prevent local governments from implementing plastic bag regulations and experts suggest federal legislation is needed to address plastic bag waste (Wang 2022d).

• What neighborhoods in your community suffer from a disproportionate burden of plastic litter, environmental pollutants, and waste hazards? How could a plastic bag ban be part of a multicomponent, comprehensive environmental initiative to reduce plastic in your community?
• What obstacles to plastic bag bans exist in your community? Has your state passed preemption laws that prohibit local actions against plastic bags or other plastic industry regulations? What coalitions, community, and grassroots organizations could advocate for plastic bag bans and plastic reduction initiatives in your community? How else could your community resist the power of the plastic industry and support innovation and more sustainable alternatives?
• How well does your community understand the environmental implications of plastic litter? What educational outreach opportunities are there to raise awareness, develop support for plastic bag ban legislation, and change consumer and retailer behavior?

As of January 1, 2024, statewide plastic bag bans in the U.S. have been implemented in twelve states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington (EA-PBB calculator, NCSL-State PBB legislation). Hawaii’s ban on plastic bags covers the state but was implemented on a county-by-county basis (NCSL-State PBB legislation). As of 2021, plastic bag legislation has been implemented in more than 500 cities and towns across 28 states (EA-PBB calculator). The National Conference of State Legislatures highlights Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle as notable cities with plastic bag bans (NCSL-State PBB legislation). Internationally, 172 countries have some form of legislation regulating single-use plastics, which in many cases include bans on single-use plastic bags (Adeyanju 2021).

As of 2022, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin are the 19 states with preemption laws that prohibit local governments from adopting plastic bag bans (Wang 2022d, NCSL-State PBB legislation).

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* Journal subscription may be required for access.

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