this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2024
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I was just thinking about this yesterday. In Washington state, they passed a law awhile back where stores can still give out plastic bags, but they have to be "reusable" (which means they're thicker, which means they use more plastic) and they charge you 8¢ per bag. Most people just pay the 8¢ per bag and walk out with half a dozen of them. I assume they're throwing them away at home, because I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever seen someone actually reuse these bags.
How does this reduce plastic waste? If anything the amount of plastic being thrown away has increased. The per-bag cost far too low to incentivize people to bring their own. Some stores offer a rebate if you supply your own bags, but it's usually 5¢ per bag, which is also too low of an incentive. So what we have is performative "feel good" legislation that ends up making the problem worse. As usual.
In Chicago we did the same thing, but we only charge $0.07 per bag, and they're the exact same crappy plastic bags we had before.