New Jersey's Plastic Bag Ban Backfire, Explained

How could this happen? “This shift in material...resulted in a notable environmental impact, with the increased consumption of polypropylene bags contributing to a 500% increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to non-woven polypropylene bag production in 2015.”

Source: New Jersey's Plastic Bag Ban Backfire, Explained - Foundation for Economic Education

Law designed to save the environment instead flushes it down the toilet. Long story short, a ban of single use plastic bags commonly used in grocery stores ended up causing a 500% increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The reason is because customers purchased heavier, reusable plastic bags that caused on increase in the consumption of plastic instead of a reduction.

Sadly, this sort of thing is not uncommon. Governments frequently pass laws without understanding what the implications truly are. There are always unintended consequences. Politicians don't really seem to be concerned about the environment so much as they are with being able to market themselves as if they were. What out for the kinds of negative environmental impact laws banning gas powered cars will have. Or many of the laws where the intent is to reduce carbon output for that matter.

While I'm generally libertarian in my politics and don't really support the government shoving this kind of stuff down our throats using taxpayer money in any sense, wouldn't it at least be better to, I don't know, put money towards research into developing sustainable alternatives vs. just legislating bans? Why is the assumption that a ban on something that has a negative impact on the environment will always net better results? There are ALWAYS worse things.

In the above example, you might be thinking that this increase is a one time blip that will straighten itself out because these bags are "reusable". The problem is, they don't tend to last long enough to make up for the excess plastic they consume. Government is not an expert on the environment or anything else. Politicians pass these laws basically because they look good on paper. Remember this the next time a law comes around that proclaims to save the environment.