Ban on Plastic Bags... What's Next?

Here in Baltimore City, a ban on plastic bags recently went into effect.

It’s been a long time coming. Apparently, it was more than 15 years ago when city leaders first proposed a similar law. 

The act is called the Comprehensive Bag Reduction Act and it applies to businesses like grocery stores, restaurants, and retailers. It basically means that these businesses can’t put the items that you are buying into a complimentary bag — especially a plastic bag.

With this act, shops have to charge customers at least $0.05 per paper bag, including a $0.01 fee that will be paid to the city. Soon owners of these stores and restaurants will need to report the number of paper bags that they’ve used.

The day that the act went into effect I went to Target, and when I was done loading everything onto the belt to be scanned, the cashier asked me if I wanted to purchase a bag. My first reaction was to say no, but then I remembered the ban and how I left my reusable bags at home. So of course I was instantly annoyed that I had to pay more money to buy a plastic bag — even if it was only a few cents. 

But I get it, the city wants to push people into using reusable bags when they go shopping. As a result, remembering to bring bags with them to stores will soon become second nature for consumers.

Plastics Have Been an Environmental Nuisance

Plastic bags — and plastics in general — have become a massive nuisance to the environment and waste management.

According to a report from The Guardian, humans have produced an estimated 8.3 billion tons since the 1950s — equivalent to the weight of over 800,000 Eiffel Towers. 

On top of that, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that only 9% of all plastic is recycled and just 12% is incinerated. The rest has been polluting the environment or resides in dumps and landfills.

What’s even more unbelievable is that 2 million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide. EcoWatch indicates that between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide annually. 

The next time that you get food delivered to your house, think about the fact that it usually comes in a plastic bag with plastic utensils and probably even plastic containers. This has been a way of life for most of us, and we don’t even think twice about how much plastic we consume in a day. 

When Keurig first came out with its coffee machines, the K-cups used to brew cups of coffee and other drinks were made out of plastic that wasn’t recyclable.

It’s only been recent that I’ve noticed that the pods are using recyclable plastic, and recycling them requires effort. You have to empty the coffee, rinse out the plastic container, and then place that container in your recycling bin and hope for the best. 

In some of our minds, when we put our recycling bins out every week we are doing something that’s benefiting the planet, but in reality, recycling can be ineffective and insufficient. That’s why we need an alternative to plastic: so we don’t have to worry about those plastics sitting in landfills for decades — or worse, ending up in our waterways and lands.

Major Changes Ahead…

My city’s ban on plastic bags is most likely just the beginning of its initiatives to reverse the damage and environmental pollution that has occurred over the past few decades. Your hometown or state is probably considering similar laws and regulations. 

The U.S. government and Biden administration have been making a strong push toward becoming a more environmentally conscious nation — and the U.S. isn’t alone. This isn’t something that is going away; it’s only going to get more prevalent. There are going to be many changes and adjustments made to create a better future for our environment.

Soon laws and regulations will be set in place to ensure these changes and adjustments become reality and aren’t just empty requests. I can’t stress enough that this will be our future. There’s no point fighting it. Instead, now’s the time to start finding the opportunities being created around it.

Those kinds of opportunities are already out there, even though most governments are just dipping their toes in environmental and climate laws and policies. 

Ban on Plastic Bags… What’s Next?

The need to reduce our carbon footprint isn’t just some crazy tree-hugger’s idea — it’s actually a goal that most companies and governments are seeking to achieve. A majority of countries are doing whatever it takes to reduce (and try to reverse) the harmful impact that has been placed on the planet for decades.

According to Princeton University, the U.S needs to spend $2.5 trillion up to 2030, and the European Union is expected to spend more than $23 trillion up to 2050. Even Morgan Stanley is predicting that stopping global warming will cost $50 trillion within the next three decades. 

That’s a lot of cash that’s about to be spent to reach these environmental goals, and it’s is creating a new invesintg trend. This new trend is going to open the door to new opportunities for some investors — especially the ones who are looking to be a part of something before it starts to soar. 

At this point, we know there’s a massive need for solutions that’ll reduce our carbon footprint, and we know the companies that will take us there will benefit greatly. 

Right now it’s just a matter of knowing those companies and recognizing what they have to offer to get us the solutions that the planet needs. There’s a company that could set you up for a chance to be a part of the solution to ending plastic waste. 

The company’s story is remarkable and is set to disrupt the $579 billion plastic market.

If you’re interested in discovering more about this new investing trend, not to mention the company that’s behind a solution to fixing one of the biggest environmental catastrophes today, then I suggest you check out this presentation.

The presentation is well-researched and brings up some fascinating points about the direction the world is going in. I enjoyed every minute of the video. And honestly, watching it has given me a new perspective on the future of investing.

Until next time,

Monica Savaglia

Monica Savaglia is Wealth Daily’s IPO specialist. With passion and knowledge, she wants to open up the world of IPOs and their long-term potential to everyday investors. She does this through her newsletter IPO Authority, a one-stop resource for everything IPO. She also contributes regularly to the Wealth Daily e-letter. To learn more about Monica, click here.