It was a decade ago when California became the first state in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags, ushering in a wave of anti-plastic legislation from coast to coast.
But in the years after California seemingly kicked its plastic grocery sack habit, material recovery facilities and environmental activists noticed a peculiar trend: Plastic bag waste by weight was increasing to unprecedented levels.
According to a report by the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG, 157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California the year the law was passed. By 2022, however, 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.
The problem, it turns out, was a section of the law that allowed grocery stores and large retailers to provide thicker, heavier-weight plastic bags to customers for the price of a dime.
where i'm at, ever since covid, they won't package your groceries for you unless you buy bags, you used to be able to bring your reusables and they'd use those to package them, but now you have to pack them up yourself if you bring your own and i hardly have time to count my change, its not conducive unless you find yourself at Aldi's where they have a space for you to pack up
It feels like the whole thing was one big ploy to ease people into paying for bags, giving a false reason rather than "because we're greedy as fuck".