A lot of people pointing out the various studies saying that plastic consumption increases after a bag ban; but isn't that expected in the short term? Everyone has to go buy 3-4 heavy reusable bags for the first time (or few times as they get used to the idea), that's obviously going cause a spike in plastic consumption, above a normal year of disposable bags. But the more meaningful question is if 5 years later, people are still buying excess heavy bags for a few uses or if the behavior actually adapts.
I wonder what level of additional waste is now caused by these reusable bags that we will continue to see forever.
FreshDirect will provide 2 heavy reusable bags each delivery I receive each week. They claimed to offer to pick these up but that has been suspended for years. They now suggest to “donate” the bags. Obviously these end up in the trash.
The strange part of whatever law led them to this idea is that because these bags aren't rigid enough, products tend to be damaged and arrive organized like a trash pile where at least one thing spills all over everything else. Oh, and they still put frozen goods in thin plastic bags.
I recall the best quality delivery for my use-case being products in standard takeout delivery paper bags wrapped in plastic to avoid leakage. I’m certain far less plastic was used in those cases, and the bags themselves could be easily used to store trash for the compactor avoiding the need for the thicker trash bags.
