When California’s first single-use plastic bag ban went into effect in 2016, the companies making the bags found a loophole: If the bags were thick enough to reuse 125 times, they don’t count as single-use anymore. The loophole worked spectacularly, and Dan Mott, environmental educator with the nonprofit Friends of the LA River, saw the evidence in the river’s trash.
“All of a sudden, they just became very prominent again, and they’re the thicker ones with that ridiculous notion that we would be reusing those,” Mott said.
His organization puts on a river cleanup each year that attracts thousands of volunteers. And he said the most common item they find is plastic bags, including the thick ones sold in grocery stores…