Re:Plastic bag bans and fees reduce harmful bag litter on sh...
by boothby on Saturday June 21, 2025 @12:10PM
(#44338622)
Perhaps there is propaganda out there, but my own observations induce a healthy dollop of skepticism, and my employer doesn't have any ties to the disposable bag industry that I'm aware of.
Takeout is being served in reusable bags. If you use doordash once a month, you're buying 12 bags a year. Some people use these services much more frequently than that. I think that getting dozens of bags per year precludes "using them long enough" for most people. In some grocery stores, the bag fee is hefty and does seem to incentivize reuse. But even in those stores, your plastic-wrapped chicken will get an extra, disposable, bag at the till unless you ask that they skip it.
In Washington state, they use extra heavy plastic bags. As a Canadian with family in the US, I love them because they fold down tiny and I can fit a few in my purse. But my brother lives near a store that will side-eye his reuseable bag and put his groceries in a new bag unless he's laser focused and commands them to reuse the bag. Most people aren't doing that.
Takeout is being served in reusable bags. If you use doordash once a month, you're buying 12 bags a year. Some people use these services much more frequently than that. I think that getting dozens of bags per year precludes "using them long enough" for most people. In some grocery stores, the bag fee is hefty and does seem to incentivize reuse. But even in those stores, your plastic-wrapped chicken will get an extra, disposable, bag at the till unless you ask that they skip it.
In Washington state, they use extra heavy plastic bags. As a Canadian with family in the US, I love them because they fold down tiny and I can fit a few in my purse. But my brother lives near a store that will side-eye his reuseable bag and put his groceries in a new bag unless he's laser focused and commands them to reuse the bag. Most people aren't doing that.