Few American cities are stepping up their commitment to use environmentally friendly bags, called eco-friendly bags, when it comes to providing shoppers with an alternative to single-use plastic bags.
Plastic bags are a scourge for many reasons:
• Plastic bags are eaten by 260 species of avian and marine life.
• Plastic bags litter landscapes and cling to treetops.
• Plastic bags choke up sewers and drainage facilities.
• Plastic bags clog landfills.
In effect, plastic bags cost local municipalities millions of dollars to clean up littered landscapes.
While California has been leading the fight against plastic bags, with San Francisco banning them in 2007 and Los Angeles in 2010, most other US cities are neither introducing plastic bag taxes to discourage usage nor implementing bans to stop usage altogether.
While there is a growing movement in the lone star state of Texas, with cities like Brownsville leading the charge by banning plastic bags, there does not appear to be a growing consciousness shift in the country as a whole about the value of eco-friendly bags that can reduce waste by offering a recyclable biodegradable alternative.