Dive Brief:

• In 2006, the state Legislature required retailers to collect used plastic bags and offer reusable bags to consumers, but now the agency in charge of the program has no data that show any benefits to the law.

• Retailers are required to submit reports, but nothing has been analyzed since 2009 due to lack of resources. 

• Raw data shows that the amount of bags being recycled in stores increased a small amount, while the volume of bags purchased by stores has gone down.

Dive Insight:

In 2012, the law was renewed until 2020, but it did not increase recycling in the way it was intended. Lack of clarity is making it difficult to determine the amount of bags that are recycled, but estimates are that retailers bought 62.3 million pounds of bags in 2012—down from 107.4 million in 2008—with 27 million pounds of mixed bags and film recycled in 2012, in addition to 4 million pounds of bags.