Single-Use Plastics
Plastic bags, cutlery, and straws are made from nonrenewable resources (oil, natural gas and other chemicals), and can take up to a thousand years to break down in the environment. They litter our streets, clog our storm drains and landfills, and end up in oceans, lakes, rivers, and bays where they impact marine ecosystems.
Many states have banned single-use plastic bags, and some have restricted the distribution of plastic and polystyrene food takeout containers, requiring restaurants to opt for compostable containers instead. When states have not mandated these restrictions, some towns have chosen to set their own limits.
Thirteen states across the country have banned the use of plastic carryout bags statewide, including Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and Vermont, among others.
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Hoboken, Westfield, Garwood, and Red Bank, NJ, have adopted ordinances that prohibit restaurants from offering single-use plastic utensils and condiments with takeout food, unless customers explicitly request it. It's part of Clean Water Action's "Skip the Stuff" campaign.
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Glen Ridge, NJ's annual Arts & Eco Fair curates vendors based upon the sustainability of the products they sell, and does not allow them to bring any single-use plastic bags or decorations for their booths.
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Cambridge, MA passed a Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance in 2016.
Instead of banning plastic bags, Dubuque, IA, has encouraged the voluntary reduction of plastic bags in their community through public education as well as soliciting participation from the business community.
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The Surfrider Foundation provides a toolkit for creating a plastic reduction ordinance for your community.
Resources
The World Economic Forum reported in 2024 that plastic bag bans have reduced plastic bag use by billions.
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Type a city or state name into Environment America's calculator to see what the impact of a plastic bag ban would be.
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Plastic Free July is a key initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation working toward the goal of a world free of plastic waste.
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Beyond Plastics provides a downloadable model Plastic Trifecta Ordinance on their website.
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Raise awareness with our 30-second "Ban the Plastic Bag" video.
References
[1] Lajeunesse, S. (2004). PLASTIC BAGS Plastic bags are not created equal because they are meant for different purposes. Chemical & Engineering News, 82(38), 51.
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[2] Wagner, T. P. (2017). Reducing single-use plastic shopping bags in the USA. Waste Management, 70, 3-12.
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[3] Sachdeva, S., et al. (2015). Green consumerism: Moral motivations to a sustainable future. Current Opinion in Psychology, 6, 60-65.
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[4] Clapp, J., & Swanston, L. (2009). Doing away with plastic shopping bags: International patterns of norm emergence and policy implementation. Environmental Politics, 18(3), 315-332.
[5] Bartolotta, J. F., & Hardy, S. D. (2018). Barriers and benefits to desired behaviors for single use plastic items in northeast Ohios Lake Erie basin. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 127, 576-585.