epr packaging law<\/a> requiring big corporations and manufactures to pay for a portion of the recycling costs of the packaging material (typically plastic) that they put into the market. oregon followed suit with a similar law in august. <\/p>\nit hasn\u2019t been so easy in california, where murray said californians against waste has been trying to implement epr laws for years, with little success. he added that while epr might be the right policy to implement, it\u2019s not necessarily the easiest.<\/p>\n
\u201csometimes the ban is the easier policy for policy makers in the public to wrap their arms around and understand,\u201d he said. \u201cwe don’t always get to do the best thing when we’re advocating these policies.\u201d<\/p>\n
despite the hurdles, murray remains optimistic as more people become open to bag laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cat the beginning \u2026 we would pass one or two of these policies every few years and now policymakers are really seeking us out and seeking out these policies,\u201d he said. \u201creally, for the first time we talk about circular economy and producer responsibility and they know what we’re talking about \u2026 i feel like policymakers are getting it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013\u2013<\/p>\n
editor’s note: this story is part of the planet forward series “so long, single-use?” check back over the next several weeks for more stories about how communities and individuals can\u2013\u2013and are\u2013\u2013reducing single-use plastic waste.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"so long, single-use? | there\u2019s plenty of confusion and debate around plastic bans on both the political and practical level. it\u2019s easy to get lost in the logistics of it all \u2013\u2013 but, at the heart of it, there\u2019s one question: are bag laws effective?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10072,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4937,4938,4914],"tags":[4656,590,4659],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-11207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plastic","category-pollution","category-sustainability","tag-bag-bans","tag-plastic","tag-so-long-single-use"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
untangling the web of plastic bag bans - planet forward<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n