Plastic bag bans help: Study finds up to 47% drop in shoreline bag litter

Among the biggest culprits of plastic pollution in the ocean and along shorelines are thin plastic shopping bags, which have low recycling rates and often become litter when they blow away in the wind. Once there, they can entangle animals and break down into harmful microplastics. As awareness of this problem has grown, more than 100 countries have instituted bans or fees on plastic bags. But what effect those policies are having on the amount of plastic litter in the marine environment has not been systematically evaluated until now.