Latest news with #DrAnnaPapp
CNN
11 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Plastic shopping bag policies are actually working, a new study suggests
Sign up for CNN's Life, But Greener newsletter. Our limited newsletter series guides you on how to minimize your personal role in the climate crisis — and reduce your eco-anxiety. That extra fee at the grocery store for a plastic shopping bag isn't just an inconvenience –– it is actually making a difference for marine ecosystems, according to a new study. Policies that ban or impose fees on plastic bags are associated with a 25% to 47% decrease in plastic bag litter in shoreline cleanups, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. Plastic litter is a big risk to the health of marine ecosystems, and the problem is growing, said lead study author Dr. Anna Papp, an environmental economist and incoming postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The United States has no federal-level policy on plastic bags, so researchers analyzed 180 local programs, including full bans, fees on shopping bags and partial bans –– which sometimes have special regulations such as requiring thicker plastics to make shopping bags reusable. Researchers then analyzed data from more than 45,000 US shoreline cleanups to compare the litter before and after the policy was passed as well as the differences between areas with and without a policy, Papp said. 'The main finding is that these policies led to a decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected,' she said. Other studies have shown that plastic bag policies affect how many bags consumers use, said Dr. Erin Murphy, manager of Ocean Plastics Research for the Ocean Conservancy. But this most recent research 'really takes it to the next level, showing it's not only reducing the amount of bags we're using, but it's actually achieving our broader objectives of environmental cleanliness,' she said. Plastic bag pollution is harmful to both animals and humans. On beaches or other outdoor spaces, plastic pollution can have a negative impact on tourism or the value of spending time in nature, Papp said. Plastic bag litter is particularly dangerous to marine animals for two reasons, Murphy said. First, they enter the environment more easily than other types of plastic. 'They're hard to recycle, they're single-use, and they're lightweight, and so they blow very easily in the wind. Even if we're trying to properly manage them, it's easy for them to escape waste management systems and get into the environment,' she said. Second, once they enter the environment, plastic bags can lead to population-level effects on marine species, Murphy said. Many species, including marine mammals and sea turtles, will eat the plastic bags, obstructing the gastrointestinal tract and preventing them from eating until they die, she said. Plastic bags can also entangle wildlife, keeping hatchling sea turtles from reaching the ocean and shading coral reefs, all of which can lead to disease and death for marine species. 'In 2024 alone, our International Coastal Cleanup volunteers cleaned up over 500,000 grocery bags from the environment and 500,000 other plastic bags, totaling more than a million different plastic bag types from the environment,' Murphy said. 'They're always in our top 10 items found in the environment, and that alone is an issue.' While bans and fees on plastic bags are helping, they are not eradicating the problem, Papp said. 'Plastic pollution is a growing global problem,' she said. 'The overall percentage of plastic bags is still increasing … This increase is just slower in places with policies.' The evidence suggests some policies are more effective than others: Full bans made a bigger impact than partial bans, and fees seemed better than bans, said study coauthor Dr. Kimberly Oremus, an associate professor at the University of Delaware School of Marine Science and Policy. 'One hypothesis is that in at least some cases, the revenue from fees is being used to further reduce litter. In Washington, DC, for example, they use the revenue from plastic bag fees to clean up river shorelines,' Oremus said. However, the hypothesis has not been investigated, and there is not yet enough data to say for sure that fees are more effective than bans, she said. More must likely be done outside of these policies as well, Papp said. The United States needs regulations not just on the consumption of plastic bags but also on the production and supply of them, she added. There are also steps you can take so your plastic shopping bag doesn't end up in the environment, Papp said. For one, if you do use a plastic bag, don't let it fly away and create litter. Then, properly dispose of it — for example, you can take it to a plastic bag recycling station, she said. And you can always go back to the three R's, said Dr. Rebecca Taylor, an assistant professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. Reduce the number of plastic bags you use, reuse them when you can and recycle them when you must.
CNN
11 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Plastic shopping bag policies are actually working, a new study suggests
Sign up for CNN's Life, But Greener newsletter. Our limited newsletter series guides you on how to minimize your personal role in the climate crisis — and reduce your eco-anxiety. That extra fee at the grocery store for a plastic shopping bag isn't just an inconvenience –– it is actually making a difference for marine ecosystems, according to a new study. Policies that ban or impose fees on plastic bags are associated with a 25% to 47% decrease in plastic bag litter in shoreline cleanups, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. Plastic litter is a big risk to the health of marine ecosystems, and the problem is growing, said lead study author Dr. Anna Papp, an environmental economist and incoming postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The United States has no federal-level policy on plastic bags, so researchers analyzed 180 local programs, including full bans, fees on shopping bags and partial bans –– which sometimes have special regulations such as requiring thicker plastics to make shopping bags reusable. Researchers then analyzed data from more than 45,000 US shoreline cleanups to compare the litter before and after the policy was passed as well as the differences between areas with and without a policy, Papp said. 'The main finding is that these policies led to a decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected,' she said. Other studies have shown that plastic bag policies affect how many bags consumers use, said Dr. Erin Murphy, manager of Ocean Plastics Research for the Ocean Conservancy. But this most recent research 'really takes it to the next level, showing it's not only reducing the amount of bags we're using, but it's actually achieving our broader objectives of environmental cleanliness,' she said. Plastic bag pollution is harmful to both animals and humans. On beaches or other outdoor spaces, plastic pollution can have a negative impact on tourism or the value of spending time in nature, Papp said. Plastic bag litter is particularly dangerous to marine animals for two reasons, Murphy said. First, they enter the environment more easily than other types of plastic. 'They're hard to recycle, they're single-use, and they're lightweight, and so they blow very easily in the wind. Even if we're trying to properly manage them, it's easy for them to escape waste management systems and get into the environment,' she said. Second, once they enter the environment, plastic bags can lead to population-level effects on marine species, Murphy said. Many species, including marine mammals and sea turtles, will eat the plastic bags, obstructing the gastrointestinal tract and preventing them from eating until they die, she said. Plastic bags can also entangle wildlife, keeping hatchling sea turtles from reaching the ocean and shading coral reefs, all of which can lead to disease and death for marine species. 'In 2024 alone, our International Coastal Cleanup volunteers cleaned up over 500,000 grocery bags from the environment and 500,000 other plastic bags, totaling more than a million different plastic bag types from the environment,' Murphy said. 'They're always in our top 10 items found in the environment, and that alone is an issue.' While bans and fees on plastic bags are helping, they are not eradicating the problem, Papp said. 'Plastic pollution is a growing global problem,' she said. 'The overall percentage of plastic bags is still increasing … This increase is just slower in places with policies.' The evidence suggests some policies are more effective than others: Full bans made a bigger impact than partial bans, and fees seemed better than bans, said study coauthor Dr. Kimberly Oremus, an associate professor at the University of Delaware School of Marine Science and Policy. 'One hypothesis is that in at least some cases, the revenue from fees is being used to further reduce litter. In Washington, DC, for example, they use the revenue from plastic bag fees to clean up river shorelines,' Oremus said. However, the hypothesis has not been investigated, and there is not yet enough data to say for sure that fees are more effective than bans, she said. More must likely be done outside of these policies as well, Papp said. The United States needs regulations not just on the consumption of plastic bags but also on the production and supply of them, she added. There are also steps you can take so your plastic shopping bag doesn't end up in the environment, Papp said. For one, if you do use a plastic bag, don't let it fly away and create litter. Then, properly dispose of it — for example, you can take it to a plastic bag recycling station, she said. And you can always go back to the three R's, said Dr. Rebecca Taylor, an assistant professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. Reduce the number of plastic bags you use, reuse them when you can and recycle them when you must.
The National
12 hours ago
- Science
- The National
Bans and fees cut plastic bag waste in the environment, study reveals
Stricter plastic bag policies have cut the amount of litter in the environment, a US study has found, which could indicate the UAE may also see improvements thanks to its own restrictions. The research found that in areas of the US where restrictions had been introduced, plastic bags accounted for a reduced proportion of shoreline waste. More than 100 countries have imposed plastic bag bans or fees, and while these have reduced consumption, researchers behind the new paper said that until now their effectiveness at actually cutting plastic waste in the environment had not been confirmed. Scientists looked at data from more than 45,000 shoreline clean-up operations in the US and measured this alongside the plastic bag policies that were in place. They considered hundreds of statewide and more localised plastic rules brought in between 2017 and 2023. They found that in areas with restrictions, there was a 25 per cent to 47 per cent decrease in plastic bags as a share of all waste collected, compared to areas without limits. One of the study's two authors, Dr Anna Papp, of Columbia University in New York, told The National she was 'surprised to see how effective plastic bag policies have been in reducing plastic bag shoreline litter', given that many factors – such as consumer behaviour and waste management – influenced a plastic bag's journey. 'However, it's important to note that these policies don't completely eliminate plastic bags in the environment but do help mitigate it,' she added. Fees not fines The other author, Dr Kimberly Oremus, an associate professor at the University of Delaware, said the results suggested fees for plastic bags may be more effective than bans. 'We can only say definitively that both [fees and bans] are effective,' she said. 'And both full bans and fees are more effective than partial bans. 'We hypothesise that fees may cover more retailers than full bans, such as take-out bags from restaurants, and fees can be used as revenue to clean-up shorelines.' The study also indicates that wildlife entanglement might fall between 30 per cent and 37 per cent when plastic bag policies are in place, although the researchers said they had limited data on this. Other scientists not linked to the new study have backed up its findings. Dr Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, a US-based organisation that researches plastic pollution and works to reduce it, said the effects of plastic bag policies had been seen in southern California, where he lives. 'I witnessed the 10-year battle to ban plastic bags across the state,' he said. 'There were sceptics about the effectiveness, but the data came in from shoreline clean-ups and we saw a significant decline in plastic bags present, not only in coastal clean-ups but in municipal data on roadside clean-ups.' Turning the tide The UAE is one of many countries where restrictions have significantly reduced plastic bag use, with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi having said a ban on single-use plastic bags in the emirate introduced on June 1, 2022 cut the number entering circulation by 364,000. Initiatives to recover and recycle plastic bottles have also been brought in. A ban on single-use plastic bags has been in force in all emirates since 2023, alongside restrictions on other plastic items. Dr Eriksen has previously researched the effect of plastic pollution in the UAE, co-writing a study showing that in many camels, large amounts of plastic, including ropes and bags, have accumulated in their stomachs. He said manufacturers should have to bear some costs associated with the entire lifecycle of plastic bags. 'A good EPR [extended producer responsibility] scheme whereby bag manufacturers contribute to a clean-up fund, in combination with a bag fee, would go a long way to eliminating bag use,' he said. While the latest research indicates that restrictions reduce plastic bag litter, Dr Papp warned this was 'only a small part of the larger plastic pollution problem'. 'Our results show that bag policies' effects are limited to reducing plastic bags and not other plastic items, so they are nowhere close to a solution for eliminating plastic waste in the environment,' she said. 'Addressing the production of plastics alongside consumption and waste, as currently under consideration in the UN Plastics Treaty, is likely crucial for a more comprehensive approach.'
