Plastic bag bans are often celebrated as a win for the environment, but I've seen the data on how they sometimes push shoppers toward thicker plastic bags that require more resources to produce. In California, the shift after the ban led to a noticeable rise in purchases of those heavy-duty bags, some of which end up in landfills anyway. Is banning single-use plastics the right move when the alternatives might not be much better, or are we missing the bigger picture about waste reduction?