Science. 19 Jun 2025. Vol 388, Issue 6753. Bianca Lopez: “Plastics large and small have become a concerning source of pollution in our waters. Policies to reduce plastic bag consumption are one approach that states and nations have used to curb plastic waste. Using community-collected data from shoreline cleanups, Papp and Oremus assessed the effects of plastic bag bans and taxes on plastic bag litter on US shorelines. Plastic bag policies significantly reduced the proportion of plastic bags in shoreline litter. Although less common, taxes or fees on plastic bags may be even more effective than bans. Regulations on other single-use plastics would likely further reduce plastic pollution.”

We find that plastic bag policies lead to a 25 to 47% decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected relative to areas without policies.

Plastic pollution has become a global problem, constituting the majority of marine litter, threatening wildlife, and damaging ecosystems. Among the most common and troublesome categories of marine litter are thin plastic shopping bags, which often evade waste management by floating away in the wind and can entangle or block the digestion of marine animals. Plastic bag bans and fees have emerged as popular policy solutions to address this problem, with >100 countries passing such regulations. Although research has shown that these policies can reduce plastic consumption in some settings, their effectiveness in reducing plastic litter in the environment has not been systematically evaluated. This question is gaining urgency as some US states move to prohibit bag policies, even as 175 countries are in talks to create the first global plastics treaty…”