cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
Do plastic bag taxes or bans curb waste? 400 cities and states tried it out. Vox
And will it work for plastic straws?
The policy: Plastic bag bans and taxes
Where: In more than 400 states and cities in the US
In place since: 2007
The problem:
Plastic bags are forever. The thin sacks that hold our groceries, toothpaste, and takeout meals have little hope of being recycled, and instead just might be reused as liners for our trash cans or containers for our dogs’ waste, after which they find themselves either blown into storm drains and rivers or hopelessly clogging landfills. According to one 2009 estimate, some 100 billion of these bags were used a year in the United States and somewhere between 500 billion and 1.5 trillion worldwide.
And will it work for plastic straws?
The policy: Plastic bag bans and taxes
Where: In more than 400 states and cities in the US
In place since: 2007
The problem:
Plastic bags are forever. The thin sacks that hold our groceries, toothpaste, and takeout meals have little hope of being recycled, and instead just might be reused as liners for our trash cans or containers for our dogs’ waste, after which they find themselves either blown into storm drains and rivers or hopelessly clogging landfills. According to one 2009 estimate, some 100 billion of these bags were used a year in the United States and somewhere between 500 billion and 1.5 trillion worldwide.