California Adopts Plastic Bag Ban, Files Lawsuit Claiming Recycling a ‘PR Stunt'

After decades of promoting plastics recycling, California adopted a total plastic shopping bag ban and filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, claiming plastic recycling is a “public relations stunt.” With the state’s outbreak of fecal-transmitted hepatitis among homeless individuals correlated with the onset of the state’s first single-use plastic bag ban that required reusable plastic bags to be purchased for ten cents, the new complete ban could worsen the disease’s spread. In 2016, California voters passed a more limited plastic bag ban that required stores to sell reusable plastic bags, or paper bags, at checkout for ten cents instead of providing bags for free. State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, sponsored legislation to completely ban plastic bags after research found Californians’ plastic waste per capita increased 50% after the ban due to the use of much thicker bags to qualify as “reusable.”