Plastic bag bans work, new study shows: Plastic pollution remains one of our largest-and growing- environmental threats [View all]

Plastic bag bans work, new study shows

Plastic pollution remains one of our largest–and growing– environmental threats.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/plastic-bag-bans-work-new-study-shows/ar-AA1H3fRF?ocid=socialshare



Fees and restrictions on single-use grocery bags mean less trash enters the ecosystem.

Plastic pollution remains one of our largest–and growing– environmental threats. From wildlife entanglement to the ubiquitous microplastics contamination inside our own bodies, it’s clear that our penchant for single-use plastic has serious consequences. But when it’s everywhere, what can we really do about it?

New research indicates there’s at least one strategy that works to curb an especially problematic and unnecessary form of plastic trash. Local and state level bans on plastic bags successfully mitigate plastic bag litter along beaches, lakes, and rivers, according to a study published June 19 in the journal Science.

The researchers combined information on hundreds of policies instituted across the U.S. between 2017 and 2023, with citizen science data from more than 45,000 shoreline clean-ups conducted between 2016 and 2023. In areas with bag bans and bag fees in place, single-use plastic bags made up a significantly smaller proportion of collected trash compared to areas with no bag policy. Averaged across the board, the reduction associated with bag bans was between 25 and 47 percent.

“The main finding is that these plastic bag policies are effective in limiting, although not eliminating, plastic bag litter in the environment,” Anna Papp, study co-author and an environmental economist and incoming post-doctoral researcher at MIT, tells Popular Science. .................

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