Plastic bag bans and fees have spread across the United States, and new research show they're doing a good job at cutting down on litter, although some rules work better than others. In places where ...

Plastic shopping bags, which have low recycling rates and often become litter when they blow away in the wind, are among the biggest culprits of plastic pollution in the ocean and along shorelines.

State and local policies to regulate the use of plastic bags have significantly reduced how many of them are found littered along U.S. shorelines — potentially cutting that type of waste in half in ...

Ten years after California approved a plastic bag ban that’s been blamed for making its plastic bag problem worse, the state is banning single-use plastic grocery bags entirely. In 2014, California ...

Thirteen states across the country have enacted bans on "single-use" plastic bags, with upwards of 500 cities doing the same. More could be on the way. Environmental groups claim that these bags are ...

Researchers find that nationwide policies to ban plastic bags may be paying off, with fewer showing up during coastal cleanups. Ever since their invention in 1959, plastic bags have become synonymous ...

The idea is simple: Reduce plastic waste by requiring shoppers to bring their own reusable bags. The reality is messy. Plastic bag bans have spread across the nation, but some data suggests that ...

Connecticut environmentalists raised their reusable water bottles for a toast when Public Act 19-117 was passed six years ago, phasing out single-use plastic bags at checkouts. The law was structured ...

*Starting January 1, 2026, California will no longer allow any plastic carryout bags at store checkouts. This includes both thin single-use bags and thicker “reusable” plastic bags, which had been ...

“Paper or plastic?” Your days are numbered. The question that millions of shoppers have heard for years when they roll up to the checkout aisle at grocery stores will soon be a thing of the past. On ...