Plastic Grocery Bag Bans Actually Boost Sale of Small Plastic Garbage Bags: Study

[claireokc]

Researchers have discovered that bans and fees on plastic carryout grocery bags (CGB) could have serious unintended consequences. The investigators found that both bag fees and outright prohibitions boosted the sale of 4-gallon and 8-gallon plastic bags—in line with the view that many consumers reuse their supposedly single-use bags as garbage bags around the house. “The effect of a 5¢ fee for either paper or plastic CGBs is essentially the same as that of a ban on plastic bag and a fee of 10 or 15¢ on paper bags. While policy makers may choose fees over bans in order to soften the blow, our results suggest that the overall effect on consumers is little different,” wrote the authors, professor Richard Woodward of Texas A&M University (TAMU) and Yu-Kai Huang of both TAMU and the University of Georgia. ...

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/plastic-g ... 26654.html