"They are certainly convenient for both stores and shoppers, providing relatively sturdy bags for customers to haul off their purchases without requiring much storage space, but there is a waste aspect to them that is hard to look away from. If you are the sort that stuffs the bags into a kitchen cabinet with the hope of reusing them, it quickly becomes clear just how quickly a single household can fill a drawer to overflowing."
"While single-use plastic bags break down to some extent in around 20 years, that just means fragmenting into tiny pieces that take as long as 1,000 years to fully decompose. Looking at the end result, be it loose plastic bags entangling sea life or our consumption of microplastics - which enter the food chain as the bags break down - it is clear that there are better ways to transport items home from the store."
"Of course, there is also the other side of the coin, with states like Arizona and Texas outlawing plastic bag bans. New Jersey As of May 4, 2022, New Jersey retail stores, grocery stores, and food service businesses were no longer allowed to either provide or sell single-use plastic carryout bags or styrofoam food service products. Smaller grocery stores can still provide single-use paper bags, but any store over 2,500 square feet can only provide or sell reusable bags."
About 5 trillion plastic bags are used globally each year, roughly 160,000 per second. Single-use plastic grocery bags offer convenience and limited household reuse, but they are difficult to recycle and mostly end up in landfills. Partial breakdown occurs in about 20 years, but fragmentation into microplastics can take up to 1,000 years to fully decompose. Loose bags entangle marine life and contribute microplastics to the food chain as they fragment. Some U.S. jurisdictions ban single-use plastic bags, while other states prohibit such bans. New Jersey banned single-use plastic carryout bags and styrofoam products as of May 4, 2022.
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