Whoda Thunk – Sanctimonious Green Grifters Fumbled the Bags

I’m not sure which is hated more, the ban on plastic straws or the one in states that no longer allow customers to leave a business with what’s known as a ‘single use plastic bag.’

Aka the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag that dominates every supermarket checkout counter and little shop, and gave rise to the now familiar ‘paper or plastic’ query if you’re lucky enough to shop where they still employ baggers.

It was a climate cult mandate to remove them in Green-leaning states, of course.

SAVE THE WHALES

As the same states put up marine-life killing wind turbines, but they’d be nowhere without their hypocrisy.

Their expensive hypocrisy.

Years ago, as the rose-colored glasses were falling from his progressive eyes thanks to tiny red pills, Michael Shellenberger had tried to make the argument that plastic bags and straws weren’t the enemy. Especially not from the United States, as those heartrending videos of floating islands made up of sealife suffocating plastics hadn’t come from here to begin with.

Most plastic waste comes from poor and developing nations that can’t yet afford a waste management system

Thus, if we want to reduce plastic waste in the ocean, we should help, not hinder, economic development in poor nations

We should not condemn growth as @GretaThunberg did pic.twitter.com/coxZoLVNff

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) July 14, 2020

But who cares about that when an authoritarian progressive state has a chance to shove yet another mandate down its residents’ throats in the name of saving Gaia?

Surely not blue governors and those legislators.

In 2021, the state of Washington, in its infinite blue-green wisdom, banned single-use plastic bags. The state also came up with both a unique set of thickness parameters for acceptable bags stores might carry, plus a nifty way for the state to pretend it’s helping stores pay for the additional cost of allowing businesses to offer these bags to customers who did not bring their own acceptable, reusable bag. A surcharge is applied to each specific type of bag.

WIN-WIN Washington.

Plastic bags are a major contaminant in Washington’s recycling facilities, waterways, roadways, and environment. Washington’s Plastic Bag Ban will reduce pollution by prohibiting single-use plastic carryout bags and charging a fee for acceptable bags in businesses beginning in October 2021.

Note how the one bag fee is going up in January. Cha-CHING!

The state’s goal was to reduce pollution. Enough time has now passed since implementing the ban that the state decided it ought to take a look and see how it has done. I’m pretty sure they were looking for that A-HAH! moment where they could prove that their draconian crackdown on convenience was worth every bit of inconvenience to shoppers in the state.

This did not happen.

What researchers from Washington State University found was that banning the thinner, annoying plastic bags resulted in more overall plastic being used and needed. They then delivered their findings to the Washington State Department of Commerce and the Department of Ecology, who doggedly maintain that the single-use ban should be retained (!), although not the scheduled increase in thickness for allowed plastic bags. Commerce and Ecology cite several contraindicative data points that, to a rational eye, would seem to refute their recommendation to that effect.

But then again, when you’re evaluating a plastic bag study and sweating social justice as part of it…what can I say?

I mean, what even is this?

…Looking forward, Commerce and Ecology offer the following recommendations: 

 Recommend maintaining the 2.25 mil1 requirement for plastic bags. We advise against returning to the singleuse 0.5 mil plastic bags or transitioning to the thicker, 4 mil bags; 

 Remain open to a ban on plastic bags provided that equity and environmental justice impacts are considered;  

 Remain open to a change in the pass-through charge for carryout plastic bags, provided that the charge considers equity and consumer behavior; and 

 Recommend obtaining further data on plastic and paper bag use from distributors and retail stores. 

Why I said it seems to be contradictory – what is there in these two data points indicating the ‘ban’ has been successful?

 Washington saw a decrease in the quantity of bags distributed and an increase in total plastic used following the implementation of the single-use bag ban. Based on sales data from a carryout bag distributor, the number of plastic bags distributed in Washington fell by 50% between 2021 and 2022. However, during the same time, total plastic use by weight increased by 17%. The increase in plastic by weight is a result of the use of reusable 2.25 mil minimum-thickness plastic bags, which are roughly four times heavier in weight than single-use 0.5 mil thickness plastic bags. Paper bags decreased by 21% in quantity and 22% by weight.  

 Consumer reuse of heavier plastic bags is likely insufficient to cover their higher external costs. Without sufficient reuse, reusable plastic, paper, and fabric carryout bags have higher environmental lifecycle costs than single-use bags. The WSU report found that studies indicate that consumers typically do not reuse their bags enough to compensate for the higher external costs of production and distribution (WSU Report, page 15). 

Even in the conclusion, there’s a ‘Well, it’s not ideal – we have to CHANGE BEHAVIOR!‘ kind of acknowledgment that they’ve really traded one ill for a more expensive and environmentally unfriendly one through their mandate.

…Without sufficient reuse, reusable carryout bags made of paper, plastic, or fabric have higher environmental lifecycle costs than their single-use counterparts. Increasing the reuse of carryout bags, regardless of bag type, and decreasing litter are critical to reducing environmental and societal costs. Furthermore, maintaining recycled content requirements for bags remains an important component of reducing reliance on virgin plastics. 

If only they could train the ignorant, non-conforming peasants to respond correctly, this would all work!

Who cares what it costs?

Possibly way higher… 51 cents!! pic.twitter.com/24ajsCGOIX

— Kristen Mag (@kristenmag) October 4, 2025

This nonsensical report coming out of Commerce and Ecology is causing quite a kerfluffle because, for once, what you would think is a ‘woke’ university is sticking to its guns that the plastic bag ban should go the way of the dodo.

…The 2025 study advised the State Department of Commerce and Ecology to reconsider its single-use plastic ban and cancel its proposed increase of fee for reusable bags in 2026.  

Since the study’s publication, the Department of Commerce and Ecology has responded by disagreeing with the researchers’ suggestions and maintaining that the ban is a successful preventative measure against plastic pollution. 

“Simply put, thicker, reusable plastic film bags are about four times heavier than single-use plastic film bags. As illustrated in the report, the number of reusable plastic film bags would have to fall by 78% to match the amount of plastic used in single-use bags,” says the department’s spokesperson. 

But Eric Jessup, co-author of the study and research professor at WSU, adds: “We completely stand by the study we completed for the Washington State Departments of Commerce and Ecology, and the policy recommendations we made are consistent with that work.

Back in 2018, the Danish Environmental Agency did a study and answered the ‘how many times would you have to use a bag’ imapct question, comparing single-use plastic bags to the ones that Washington is doubling down on.

Here’s a fact that most people don’t know:

Single-use plastic grocery bags are actually the environmentally friendly option by a huge margin. pic.twitter.com/zuYdegcREb

— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) September 5, 2022

Even closer to home and much more recent lived experience, New Jersey has undergone the same evolution, with predictably similar results. 

Everyone has multiple heavy-duty reuse bags in their car, which get left there the second they have to dash into the grocery store for something. Or they don’t bring enough of them to handle what they buy, so they have to purchase more to get back out to the car, which then get left in the car for the next time.

A vicious cycle.

And, because you pay for them and they’re heavy-duty, you never pick up dog poop with them.

A study from the market research company Fredonia Group has found plastic consumption has nearly tripled since the ban took effect.

In other words, despite proponents claims it would greatly help the environment, it has had the opposite effect.

When he signed the law, Gov. Phil Murphy proclaimed: “With today’s historic bill signing, we are addressing the problem of plastic pollution head-on with solutions that will help mitigate climate change and strengthen our environment for future generations.”

Not only is there evidence to the contrary, but people have been buying more plastic bags so they can continue to use them for trash can liners, cat litter, dog waste, and other purposes. These bags use far more plastic than the single-use bags that were banned.

The fancy schmancy bags you’re forced to purchase at the market accumulate and sit in the car.

The little, thin, fluffy plastic bags are reused almost immediately, and sometimes, multiple times per bag.

…Callers to the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show with Eric Scott listed all kinds of uses they had for the bags once they unpacked the groceries.

From preserving leftovers to scooping cat boxes and collecting dog waste, it’s clear these bags rarely were single use.

BRING BACK THE BAGS!

Since coming back from VA I’ve used these “single use” bags dozens of times, yet those heavy reusables have caused our plastic usage to increase by 300%

The problem here isn’t the bags, it’s our Democrat legislators, let’s bring common sense back to Trenton

Bring Back the Bags pic.twitter.com/swZZzt1rqN

— Wake Up NJ 🇺🇸 New Jersey (@wakeupnj) October 5, 2025

As long as no one confuses that saying with a wish for the return of Hillary Clinton, reusable bag fatigue might be what pushes Jack Ciattarelli over the finish line.

You know California banned them, too, along with plastic straws.

Another green policy backfire:

California’s plastic bag tax has increased the weight plastic bags thrown away by almost 30%.

Since bag taxes were enacted, plastic bags have been made thicker to qualify as being “reusable.”

But consumers discard them anyway.

So Californians… pic.twitter.com/cNGvGBw8hD

— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) February 13, 2024

Unless, of course, you need your state-sanctioned plastic crackpipe, needles, and other druggie goodies bagged up by the local NGO. Then plastic bags are okay.

Gavin Newsom signed a bill today making it illegal for grocery stores to hand out plastic bags.

I guess it’s environmentally friendly when the NGO’s who hand out crack pipes and fentanyl needles use single use plastic bags though.

Video courtesy of @war24182236. pic.twitter.com/CABJS8oRfO

— Michael Oxford – AKA The Santa Cruz Mountain Goat (@SCMountainGoat) September 23, 2024

Time for the ludicrous mandates to cease. 

These people all love to squawk about The Science™ until actual science squawks back what they don’t want to hear. Then, it’s an immediate pivot to equity, social justice, and #feelz.

Almost makes you want to put a bag over someone’s head.

Responsibly, though – it has to be at least 40% recycled content, Fair Trade, and made by non-binary, artisanal, heritage bagmakers.

I couldn’t live with myself otherwise. 

If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. Ed, David, John, and I are here for it.

COME AT US, BROS!

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