A new study says that the plastic bag ban could cause a shortage of paper bags.
That would be a problem, according to the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, which represents manufacturers and recyclers of plastic bags throughout the country.
The study says that it could cause major issues.
“There are two components there. Obviously you have the shortage of paper bags but you also have a questionable supply of reusable bags,” Matt Seaholm, executive director of the organization said.
The study outlines the best- and worst-case scenarios for demand. They say that if 15 percent of single-use plastic bag users switched to reusable totes, the remaining demand for paper bags would be nearly 3.4 billion units. On the other side, if 90% of users switched to reusable totes, the demand for paper bags would still be 738 million units.
Either way, that’s a lot of paper bags. But even in the best case scenario, producers would be dealing with a massive shortage.
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