But are the alternatives to fossil-based plastics really better for the environment? Certainly not in terms of air pollution. In California, banning plastic bags resulted in more paper bags and other thicker bags being used, which increased carbon emissions due to the greater amount of energy needed to produce them.77 Paper bags would need to be reused forty-three times to have a smaller impact on the environment.78 And plastic bags constitute just 0.8 percent of plastic waste in the oceans.79
