Banning Plastic Bags Works To Limit Shoreline Litter, Study Finds (nytimes.com)
(Friday June 20, 2025 @05:50PM (msmash)
from the no-miracle dept.)
- Reference: 0178121397
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/20/201242/banning-plastic-bags-works-to-limit-shoreline-litter-study-finds
- Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/climate/plastic-bag-bans-litter.html
An anonymous reader shares a report:
> At tens of thousands of shoreline cleanups across the United States in recent years, volunteers logged each piece of litter they pulled from the edges of lakes, rivers and beaches into a global database. One of the most common entries? Plastic bags. But in places throughout the United States where plastic bags require a fee or have been banned, [1]fewer bags end up at the water's edge , according to [2]research published this week in Science.
>
> Lightweight and abundant, thin plastic bags often slip out of trash cans and recycling bins, travel in the wind and end up in bodies of water, where they pose serious risks to wildlife, which can become entangled or ingest them. They also break down into harmful microplastics, which have been found nearly everywhere on Earth. Using data complied by the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, researchers analyzed results from 45,067 shoreline cleanups between 2016 to 2023, along with a sample of 182 local and state policies enacted to regulate plastic shopping bags between 2017 and 2023. They found areas that adopted plastic bag policies saw a 25 to 47 percent reduction in the share of plastic bag litter on shorelines, when compared with areas without policies. The longer a policy was in place, the greater the reduction.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/climate/plastic-bag-bans-litter.html
[2] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp9274
> At tens of thousands of shoreline cleanups across the United States in recent years, volunteers logged each piece of litter they pulled from the edges of lakes, rivers and beaches into a global database. One of the most common entries? Plastic bags. But in places throughout the United States where plastic bags require a fee or have been banned, [1]fewer bags end up at the water's edge , according to [2]research published this week in Science.
>
> Lightweight and abundant, thin plastic bags often slip out of trash cans and recycling bins, travel in the wind and end up in bodies of water, where they pose serious risks to wildlife, which can become entangled or ingest them. They also break down into harmful microplastics, which have been found nearly everywhere on Earth. Using data complied by the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, researchers analyzed results from 45,067 shoreline cleanups between 2016 to 2023, along with a sample of 182 local and state policies enacted to regulate plastic shopping bags between 2017 and 2023. They found areas that adopted plastic bag policies saw a 25 to 47 percent reduction in the share of plastic bag litter on shorelines, when compared with areas without policies. The longer a policy was in place, the greater the reduction.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/climate/plastic-bag-bans-litter.html
[2] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp9274
I'm going to the beach and clean them up (Score:2)
by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 )
Then dump them on beaches where they are banned.
Re: (Score:2)
by ClickOnThis ( 137803 )
You'll get arrested for littering. Find some other way to process your anger. Maybe put them in the bag-recycling bins at Ralph's or Home Depot? That'll teach 'em!
I've grown to hate the things (Score:2)
I started bringing reusable bags because they were insulated and it's summer. I keep a handful of the plastic bags from the supermarket around for emergency trash but I find that if I am not consistently bringing my own bags I quickly wind up with way way way more supermarket plastic bags and I can possibly use for emergency trash cans.
They're too thin and flimsy and full of holes to use for anything that has actual garbage in it. I don't eat out very often so the constant grocery trips mean that I end