I’m confused by these new plastic bag rules in some cities. What is the underlying reasoning that was used to advocate for them?
Politicians took a highly visable problem that affects the majority of their constituency and "solved" it.
It doesn't matter if it's an actual problem or not to politicians, it only matters if their voters think it's a problem.
Roughly, plastic bags are bad for wildlife and enough of them don't make it into the landfill that it's a problem.
“The problem of rubbish polluting the sea, rivers and land can be most cheaply addressed by improving rubbish collection and making sure everything gets to landfill.
Almost all of the litter that escapes into nature, especially the sea, comes from poorer riverine countries with bad rubbish collection practices, such as China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Rich countries like the UK or US have rubbish collection rates approaching 100% and are responsible for almost no new waste reaching the oceans.
Focussing on recycling is a distraction from making sure everything gets collected and cheaply buried underground — something which many countries already do successfully.”