Who could have known this would happen?

The goals of Senate Bill 270, the so-called plastic bag ban, spoke to the “three Rs” of waste reduction: Reduce the number of plastic bags Californians use, reuse the ones they receive, and recycle them once their useful life has ceased (the bags, not the Californians).

The thin plastic bags that used to line every bathroom trash can and litter box in California were and are made of low-density polyethylene, or LDPE. More than 30 billion of those single-use plastic carryout bags used to be distributed across California every year.

California’s 2014 bag ban law focused on grocery stores, which can no longer give you one of those thin plastic bags.But they can sell you a heftier sack made of high-density polyethylene, or HDPE.

The California Sun said it best about the L.A. Times findings:

Nearly seven years after California adopted a so-called plastic bag ban, residents are producing plastic bag more waste per capita now than before the prohibition.

Shoppers are supposed to clean and dry reusable plastic bags, bring them back to the store, and put the bags in certain take-back bins that go to specialty recycling centers. But, according to a recent ABC News investigation, airtag trackers placed in the bins show most of the bags end up in landfills anyway.

Not surprisingly, the L.A. Times also points out the majority of customers still don’t bring their own bags to reuse for shopping. As it turns out, the plastic bag tax voters approved 6 years ago was nothing more than a scam since stores buy bags for about 5 cents each, sell them for at least double that and pocket the profits. The bags can’t even go into recycle bins.

This feel-good recycling scheme is nothing more than a money-making racket that made plastic pollution a whole lot worse. But California politicos had to ban plastic bags and even straws despite more serious issues that need to be addressed like crime, homelessness and drugs.