Back in the 80s the libs decided to save the forests by eliminating the use of paper shopping bags. Many of us argued at the time that bags can be made of recycled material, but replacing them with plastic would be disaster for land fills. Now they have their panties in a wad because of the non biodegradable plastic that has clogged the composting process in landfills. But the good news is they've moved past it all to personalized shopping bags - some even made with hemp.
We have a similar problem here in Germany. Both paper and plastic bags were frowned upon. So they went to reusable cloth bags. Now? They’ve discovered bacteria attaching themselves to the cloth bags and if you don’t wash them every month or two...you stand to get an bad infection if you have any cuts and rub against the cloth grocery bags.