North Carolina’s current state budget, which was approved with bipartisan support and became law last fall without Governor Roy Cooper’s (D) signature, includes a provision barring local governments across the state from regulating and taxing plastic bags and other containers. Some have been critical of the General Assembly’s decision to preempt local regulatory powers, but it’s unclear whether that opposition represents a vocal minority. A new study out of New Jersey, however, will be seen as vindication for North Carolina legislators who voted for the new preemption measures.
Asheville and Durham officials had been considering proposals to ban and tax plastic bags. Unlike New Jersey’s ban, the Durham and Asheville proposals would’ve continued to permit the use of paper bags. Still, the phenomenon documented in the new report released in January by the Freedonia Group and commissioned by the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, which found that most people don’t use reusable shopping bags enough to achieve a net environmental benefit, provides a cautionary tale for proponents of bag restrictions across the U.S.