California’s ban on thin plastic shopping bags in 2014 has actually increased, rather than reduced, the amount of plastic bag waste. The Wall Street Journal.
Breitbart News reported on the fight over plastic bag bans, which were first implemented in states across the U.S. in 2014, and noted that the bans were a regressive tax on consumers that benefited large grocery chains, which could sell heavy, government-certified plastic bags for 10 cents apiece, which in theory are more recyclable than thinner ones.
Ten years later, the amount of plastic bags wasted per California resident increased by almost 50 percent. journal Notes:
Specifically, the weight of plastic bag waste per person has increased since the first ban was passed. A study called “The Outcomes of Plastic Bag Bans,” conducted by environmental and public interest groups, also includes a table showing that the amount of plastic bags thrown away per 1,000 people in California has increased from 4.08 tons in 2014 to 5.89 tons in 2021. The report blames this on “loopholes” in the law.
When the ban on thin, disposable plastic bags went into effect, shoppers were forced to choose between paper bags and thicker, reusable plastic bags. However, it appears that many people didn’t reuse these thicker plastic bags as much as politicians expected, leading to an overall increase in plastic waste. As a solution, the state Assembly and Senate are moving to crack down on these carry-out bags that have been allowed for the past decade.
But the law doesn’t apply to the durable, reusable bags made of non-woven polypropylene (NWPP), which feel like canvas but are made of plastic. Grocery stores don’t mind if the government bans other bags as long as they can sell them for $1-2 a piece. But as New Jersey found out after passing its own plastic bag ban, NWPP also ended up in the trash, leading to increased plastic consumption.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native, also supports a similar ban. include A ban on plastic straws, which have no proven environmental value, and the production of paper straws, which consumers dislike.
California has prided itself on being the first state to adopt “progressive” policies in the hopes that other states will follow suit, but little attention has been paid to whether these policies actually work or, as in this case, have the opposite effect.
The same goes for housing subsidies. Harris has proposed offering first-time homebuyers up to $25,000 in down payment assistance. But journal Notes“No other state spends as much on housing as her home state of California, but home prices there are among the highest in the country. As a result of a variety of regulations, it costs more than $1 million to build an ‘affordable’ home in the Golden State.”
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of “Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which is available for preorder on Amazon. He also wrote,Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency” is available on Audible. He is the 2018 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
