New Study Explores Plastic Bag Litter Problem

As more areas across the United States institute bans on plastic bags, one University of Delaware professor said there's evidence to suggest the litter restrictions are working.

According to a study co-authored by Kimberly Oremus, professor of marine science and policy, and published in the journal Science, plastic bag policies led to a 25-47% reduction in the amount of disposable, thin plastic bag litter as a proportion of the items collected during cleanups of America's shorelines.

In 2023, about one in three Americans lived in a community where some plastic bag regulation was in place.

The bans aren't foolproof either. Earlier research has pointed out several loopholes in the laws that can reduce the bans' effectiveness.

As Oremus and her colleagues on the study collected data on 611 plastic bag policies across the nation, they found that the most common type of bans was complete bans, making up approximately 60% of policies. The next were partial bans, approximately 31% which banned thin film bags but permitted thicker plastic bags. The least common, 8.5%, were policies that charged for bags.

This policy, which typically assesses $.05- $.25 cents a bag, was most effective in reducing the amount of plastic bag waste found along shorelines.

Researches determined that plastic bag bans have some degree of effectiveness based on data obtained through the Clean Swell app. The app recorded crowdsourced data that indicated within the 45,067 shoreline cleanups that occurred from 2016-2023, plastic bags made up 6.7% of the items picked up in 2023.

While disposable plastic bags are now ubiquitous at supermarkets, they cause significant environmental harm.

"Plastic bags, especially the thin plastic bags, travel very easily in the wind and water," Anna Papp, an environmental economist at Columbia University, told USA TODAY. "Because of that, their impact on animals and ecosystems can be outsized."