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By Erin Hass, Director, ARPBA Every time you step into a grocery store, you’re lucky to be faced with a hundred small choices. Cart or basket. Name-brand cereal or generic. Organic produce or conventional. All these decisions are part of the freedom of grocery shopping and represent what makes the experience unique to each consumer. […]

More evidence that states should focus on market-oriented solutions to environmental problems. California’s leaders like to think of themselves as setting an example for the country. Their first-in-the-nation ban on single-use plastic bags certainly led the way — although it functions more as a cautionary tale than a model of prudence. Dog owners might find […]

Lawmakers favored political posturing rather than data. By Jason Rantz Washington State lawmakers promised that banning single-use plastic bags would reduce waste, conserve resources, and protect wildlife. Instead, their virtue-signaling law has produced a humiliating series of unintended consequences that make the problem worse, while sticking retailers and consumers with the bill. The state’s own report admits […]

Commonsense Prevails in VA: Governor Youngkin, in a recent veto against a plastic bag tax-related measure, notes the truth about these price hikes on consumers: “[They] fail to achieve their intended goals and burden Virginians with higher prices at the grocery store”: (HB1764) GOVERNOR’S VETO Pursuant to Article V, Section 6 of the Constitution of […]

Back to Plastic Update: Giant Eagle will resume using recyclable plastic film bags at all its Erie County, PA, locations. With shoppers struggling to comply with unrealistic bag policies, we applaud this commonsense move. Read more here: Plastic bags are back at all four Giant Eagle stores in Erie County. The bags, which were eliminated as an option […]

Bozeman voters supported a ban on single-use plastics in the November election by nearly a two-to-one margin, but a Montana Supreme Court ruling released Wednesday puts the measure in some jeopardy. The Bozeman Plastics Ordinance proposed a ban on businesses providing single-use plastic bags and styrofoam containers to customers to go into effect in May 2025. After […]

The bag ban on the ballot in Bozeman, regardless of the outcome, could spark greater interest in state preemption laws that prevent locally-imposed regulations and taxes. In Montana, a red state where Republicans control the legislature and the Governor’s mansion, voters are poised to help the GOP take control of the U.S. Senate this November. […]

By The Editorial Board California is known for its ban-first-ask-questions-later approach to problems. In 2014, it was the first state to pass a comprehensive ban on single-use plastic bags. Whoops, plastic in the garbage went up, not down. Naturally, California politicians now think this justifies another new ban on carryout bags that will further inconvenience […]

The American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance released a statement in response to the news that proposed ballot initiatives to ban single-use plastic bags in Bozeman and Missoula failed to qualify due to a lack of signatures.  “This is a win for working families across Montana. These proposals under consideration were overly broad and would have […]