In American parks and playgrounds, plastic litter is piling up. Tree branches catch rogue plastic bags. Crumpled candy wrappers and orphaned bottle caps lie discarded in storm drains. Empty plastic bottles roll down sidewalks, used just once then forgotten.
Although plastic litter has a way of weaving itself uninvited into the natural scenery and tarnishing our green spaces, plastic poses more than an unsightly litter problem. Over 99% of plastic is produced from fossil fuels, and extracting and transporting gas and crude oil are themselves major sources of carbon emissions. Not surprisingly, turning gas or crude oil into usable plastic is also an energy-intensive process. While there are hundreds of plastic production facilities in the U.S. alone, the annual emissions from just two of them are equivalent to 800,000 cars on the road.
Many plastic items are used just a handful of times before being discarded. And despite claims from the plastics industry that plastic is recyclable, less than 10% of all plastic discarded in the U.S. is recycled. Most of it goes to landfills or incinerators; some of it becomes litter. Plastic pollution is especially concerning in our oceans and waterways. In the Pacific Ocean, the accumulated floating Great Pacific Garbage Patch is nearly twice the size of Texas.
Litter isn’t just unsightly. It also may be dangerous. That’s because plastic never completely breaks down. While plastic’s effects on human health are still emerging, research suggests that microplastics in our blood worsen cardiovascular issues and plastic in our digestive systems may drive early onset colorectal cancer. And because nearly 1-in-10 fish have plastic inside them, we may inadvertently consume microplastics when we enjoy our favorite seafoods.
Although plastic pollution may feel overwhelming, new research suggests that limits on plastic—and plastic bags in particular—reduce the prevalence of plastic litter.
How can we reduce plastic trash and litter?
Because plastic bags are lightweight by nature, wind easily sweeps them away and deposits them on shorelines and in waterways. That’s why, since 2018, more than 100 countries around the world have either banned or limited plastic checkout bags in certain stores. Many towns, cities and states have enacted their own bans or limits:
- Some states, like New York, have completely banned retailers from distributing plastic bags.
- Others, like Washington, have passed partial bans, where thinner plastic bags deemed “single use” are prohibited but thicker plastic bags are not.
- Some jurisdictions regulate plastic bag use through fees. Arlington County, Virginia is one of many counties across the country that requires sellers to levy a five-cent fee from customers who purchase a plastic bag.
Between 2017 and 2023, researchers Anna Papp and Kimberly Oremus reviewed more than 600 bag policies enacted by states and towns across the U.S. They then compared these bag policies with community-collected data from more than 45,000 shoreline cleanups where participants categorized the items they found.
Researchers compared the composition of litter from cleanups in places before and after bag bans or limits took effect. They also compared the data on litter in places with bag bans or limits to places without such policies.
Do community restrictions on plastic bags reduce plastic litter?
The bad news is plastic litter increased across the board during the study’s six-year window. But plastic litter increased less in places that banned or limited plastic bags.
More importantly, the bag bans and limits resulted in significantly less plastic bag litter (as opposed to plastic litter overall). The bag ban and bag limit communities also saw a 30% reduction in animal entanglements, which suggests that such policies don’t just reduce litter. They also may help protect wildlife.
As it turns out, the type of policy matters. Complete bans and fee-based policies led to the greatest reductions in bags on shorelines. Partial bans, on the other hand, weren’t quite as effective. The study’s authors concluded this may be due to the fact that partial bans often offer exemptions for thicker, “reusable” plastic bags, many of which ultimately end up becoming litter.
While complete bans in towns and cities were found to be effective, state-level policies corresponded with the greatest reductions in plastic bag litter. You can learn more about what type of impact a statewide or town-wide plastic bag ban would have on your community by entering your town’s name into Environment America’s Single-use Plastic Bag Ban Waste Reduction Calculator.
Cleaning up communities
Perhaps most promising, the study’s authors believe that regulations on other single-use plastics like straws and beverage cups would further reduce plastic pollution.
Policies that ban or limit single-use plastic work, and that’s good news. But there’s more that can and should be done. Without ambitious action, the inflow of plastic pollution in our oceans is expected to increase from 11 million metric tons per year currently to 29 million metric tons per year by 2040.
Companies can and should stop manufacturing so much plastic to begin with. Consider Coca Cola, named the world’s largest plastic polluter. In December 2024, Coke abandoned its goals to deliver 25% of beverages in reusable containers by 2030 and to cut 3 million metric tons of new plastic by 2025.
Around 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute globally. Before you go: Tell Coca Cola to honor its commitment to cut down on plastic waste.
