Well, duh. The law of unintended consequences strikes again (but I have an answer)

-They Banned Plastic Bags and Increased Plastic Usage by 300%

Hopefully, the low-information voters of New Jersey will learn a lesson from this experiment.

Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times following the state’s implementation of a strict ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, a study found.

“Following New Jersey’s ban of single-use bags, the shift from plastic film to alternative bags resulted in a nearly 3x increase in plastic consumption for bags,” Freedonia Custom Research (FCR), a business research division for MarketResearch.com, reported in a study published this month.

New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022, the strictest ban on bags in the nation at the time, billing it as an effort to cut back on the plastic one-use bags piling up in landfills.

New Jersey has also banned paper bags, and, while they were at it, foam food containers and cups — why is a paper hamburger box or coffee cup olay, but not a paper grocery bag? Ypu’ll have to ask the virtue signallers).

However, manufacturing and shipping paper bags also have their own environmental costs, as studies have shown

But lest you think I am always entirely negative about this sort of thing, I present to you an elegant solution: Hard-bottom grocery totes.

These things are fabulous, and offer a great way to avoid the entire plastic/paper/no-bag-at-,all controversy. Cashiers love them, and tell me that they’re easy to pack (true, as I know from using self-checkout), hold at least 3X more than conventional paper bags do, and because they’re so easy to clean, customers usually don’t present then swarming with bugs and dripping with mold.

In addition, the double handles and sturdy construction make it possible to haul heavy loads from car to kitchen easily and effortlessly, with no fear of tearing. I like them so much that I’ve given them as gifts to my girls and Nancy (aren’t I romantic?) and they love them too.

Did I mention that you can lift the hard bottom up and fold the bags flat? Highly recommended; if you buy one, you’ll thank me.

(All of this sounds like some sort of paid promtion, but it’s not — rigid bottom, collapsable bags are as useful as I describe)