Why Banning Plastic Grocery Bags Could Be A Bad Move

By Stacey Vanek Smith,

Published May 23, 2019 at 5:02 AM EDT

Plastic bags are not biodegradable and can do great harms to wildlife. Cities and states across the country are banning plastic bags, but those bans may be having unintended consequences.

Science & Environment

Stacey Vanek Smith

Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money. She's also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she's traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country's dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she's spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China.

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Greg Rosalsky

Since 2018, Greg Rosalsky has been a writer and reporter at NPR's Planet Money.

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