A case study in government policy failure: plastic bag edition

Politicians have a long and unfortunate track record of enacting policy X and, when policy X fails, rather than repeal X they move quickly along to foisting additional freedom-stealing policies on the people.

Take plastic bag bans as an example. New Jersey enacted a statewide plastic bag ban in 2020. Rather than helping the environment, the best study of the results of the law found that banning plastic bags actually INCREASED both CO2 emissions AND plastic consumption. It wasn’t a trivial amount, it was by a lot.

Now, as the left-wing Los Angeles Times editorial board writes of the failure of California’s plastic bag ban, ” in 2014 California tossed about 157,385 tons of plastic bag waste into the trash. In 2022, plastic bags accounted for about 231,072 tons of trash. That’s nearly 50% more.”

So, California’s anti-plastic policy is an abject failure. That means it will be repealed, right? Not a chance. In California a failed policy just means another opportunity to pass more bad policy. As the editorial argues, “We need a do-over — a second plastic bag ban that fulfills the promise that lawmakers made in 2014… (when the first ban was passed).”

To date, thankfully, no statewide plastic bag ban has been imposed in New Mexico although Las Cruces and Santa Fe have them in place. Albuquerque had one, but it was eliminated. A few other cities and counties also have plastic bag bans.