Plastic Bag Bans And Fees Can Reduce Shoreline Litter, Study Finds
Plastic bag bans and fees could help reduce the number ending up littering shorelines by at least a quarter, according to a new analysis.
The study by researchers at the University of Delaware and Columbia University found that plastic bag policies led to a 25% to 47% decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected in shoreline cleanups, compared to areas without policies.
It also found a 30 to 37% reduction in presence of entangled animals in areas with plastic bag policies.
It used data collected by volunteers with Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup annual event, which sees volunteers remove trash from beaches and waterways around the world.
The U.S. currently has now no federal plastic bag policy, but there are various policies at the town, county and state level, which include bans, partial bans and charges.
The study says some types of policies seemed to be more effective than others in reducing plastic litter.
For instance, it said fees appear to reduce litter even more than bans, though more study is needed to understand why.
Another finding was that the bag bans and fees were most effective in places where the plastic bag litter problem was more severe to begin with.
Report co-author Anna Papp said roughly one-third of Americans are living in an area with some sort of plastic bag policy in place in a statement.
Papp added the findings do show that plastic bag policies are broadly effective in limiting litter along shorelines.
'Ours is the first large-scale study to use hundreds of policies and tens of thousands of cleanups to look at their effects,' she said.
'But it is important to keep in mind that this is a relative decrease in affected areas compared to areas without policies.'
A previous analysis by Ocean Conservancy showed a 29% reduction in plastic grocery bags found on beaches following an increase in statewide plastic bag bans.
It also claimed Americans use 100 billion plastic grocery bags each year and on average, plastic grocery bags are used for only 12 minutes before being thrown away.
Ocean Conservancy's manager for ocean plastics research, Dr. Erin Murphy said plastic bags are particularly dangerous for the environment in an interview.
Dr. Murphy said sea animals can either become entangled with them or ingest them.
She added the ingestion of plastic bags has been linked to death in many species, including marine mammals and sea turtles.
'Plastic bags can look to some sea creatures like prey such as jellyfish, and so they may be consumed preferentially in the environment,' she told me.
Dr. Murphy said there have also been previous studies, which highlight how high levels of plastic litter can impact tourism in coastal resorts.
She added the study provides good evidence about why 'more comprehensive plastic bag bans or well-developed plastic bag fees' need to be introduced.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's lead of strategy and thought leadership for the plastics initiative, Sander Defruyt said the new research provides clear evidence that plastic bag bans and fees are effective tools in reducing plastic pollution in an email.
Defruyt added plastic bags represent just a fraction of all plastics used globally and tackling the plastic pollution crisis requires a much broader systems change.
'We must change how we design, use, and reuse plastics. We cannot simply recycle or reduce our way out of the plastic pollution crisis,' he said.
'Our current wasteful linear plastics economy is broken," added Defruyt.
"In this system, fossil resources are extracted from the ground, made into packaging or products, and most often discarded after a very short, single use to end up in landfills, incinerators, or worse, into the environment.
'To fundamentally transform today's linear economy into a circular economy will require a combination of ambitious industry action and policy measures, working in tandem to provide the systems change required," said Defruyt.
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