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 โ 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.
I always try to carry these newer plastic bags with me when I go shopping, the pockets of a particular jacket work great (as long as it isn't summer), I can just store them in the jacket pockets for reuse. This worked great until I had to go to the courthouse. Going through security at the front door, I was questioned by one cop because I had a metal pen and checkbook in my shirt pocket which I didn't think to put through the scanner, a second cop harassed me because my jacket pockets bulged. Then the cop didn't like my response, which was emptying my pockets so he could see the empty plastic bags. I really have no idea how I'd ever carry cloth bags for reuse, those would make my pockets bulge even more.
Perhaps we need to give up on shopping bags entirely?