California has long been a leader in trends, the use of plastic bags being one. Plastic bags were invented to save the planet, according to the son of Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin, who created them in 1959. The bags were developed as an alternative to paper bags, which were considered bad for the environment because they resulted in forests being chopped down.
How the times have changed.
In 2014, “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.”
It appears environmentalists had a change of heart. Plastic was put on the naughty list. Paper was rehabilitated and now deemed “good”. But as is often the case with environmental do-gooder “fixes”, the law of unintended consequences reared up.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times:
“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.”
How in the world could that be happening? Well, it appears two California companies were “using 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.”
What could go wrong with that?
“Basically what happened is that plastic bag companies invented these thicker plastic bags that technically meet that definition of reusable but are clearly not being reused and don’t look like reusable bags and which just circumvent the law’s intent… Now, California legislators are hoping to correct that error by passing a law that closes that loophole and bans those thick plastic bags offered at the checkout line.”
Will this next “fix” do the trick? Stay tuned.
To read the sourced article in its entirety, click HERE.