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Plastic bags are the genital warts of litter — they're incredibly widespread, nearly impossible to get rid of, and can lead to much worse problems down the line. The only thing that works is prevention — i.e. not using them in the first place. But the plastics industry doesn't take too kindly to that. Here's a sampling of the tactics the industry has used to keep people from weaning themselves off plastic bags:

Lobbying (to the tune of millions of dollars) against legislation that would ban or put fees on plastic bags at the local level.

Trying to trade bag recycling plants for the promise that there will be no bag-banning laws. Trying to recycle plastic bags tends to just break recycling machines, so this isn't a very good deal.

Filing lawsuits against manufacturers of reusable bags.

Filing lawsuits against local governments that ban or limit plastic bags.

Spreading misinformation about the dangers of reusable bags, i.e. that they can contain bacteria.

The good news is that, in places where local legislation has managed to escape the plastic-mongerers, bans and restrictions on plastic bag use are really really effective. (It's the Pap smear of … oh never mind.) A 15-cent bag fee in Ireland cut plastic bag use by 90 percent. D.C. has a much smaller fee, only five cents, but that still dropped consumption from more than 22 million bags to only 3 million per month. China cut plastic bag use by two-thirds in a year, saving the equivalent of 11.7 million barrels of oil. And the measures are popular, with everyone but the plastics industry; 25 percent of the world's population lives somewhere that has restricted bag use. Portland just banned them on Monday! Take that, plastic goons!