Ecology for the day

Slate has an article (which originally appeared in Business Insider) by Shivam Saini about changes in Hawai'i:

Grocery shopping will never be the same, in Hawai'i at least. On 1 July 2015, the state became the first in the US to ban plastic checkout bags, after Oahu joined the rest of the Hawai'ian islands in prohibiting them.
Although, in 2014,  California was the first state to pass a law prohibiting retailers from handing out plastic bags to customers, the ban was put to a referendum after pro-plastic trade groups opposed the move. The statewide ban in Hawai'i requires businesses to stay away from bags made from non-compostable plastic, or else pay a hundred to a thousand dollars in penalties.
For a country that threw away over three million tons of plastic bags, sacks, and wraps in 2012, as estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency, the ban in Hawai'i is undoubtedly a major step toward sustainable packaging. But the ban is limited in its approach: it applies only to bags made from non-compostable plastic. Retailers are free to use compostable plastic bags, recyclable paper bags, and reusable bags.
Moreover, the list of bags excluded from the ban runs long. Plastic bags used for carrying fruit, vegetables, frozen foods, coffee, meat, and fish inside the store have escaped the ban. Retailers who use plastic bags for carrying takeout food, newspapers, laundry, and prescription drugs have also been spared. Nonetheless, the ban represents what could be the start of a game-changing trend.
Supermarkets use layers and layers of flimsy plastic bags to pack purchases. The average American takes home about fifteen hundred plastic bags a year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. So it's no surprise that the US figures in the list of top twenty offenders contributing to plastic debris in the oceans, according to a 2015 study. Plastic bags, in fact, are the fourth most commonly littered item on the coasts, as found by Ocean Conservancy.
Plastic bags may trump the eco-friendly paper bags and totes when it comes to cost and convenience, but the Earth suffers. This is because polyethylene— the most common type of plastic seen in supermarkets— doesn't break down easily. It takes plastic bags ages to decompose, up to an estimated five hundred years. A Swedish study found that chemicals used in plastic could also increase the risk of diabetes.
All of those bags have helped give the Pacific Ocean a debris monument twice the the size of the continental US. The so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch is full of plastic, which kills sea turtles and other marine life. If other states follow Hawai'i's example, it could turn the tide against plastic in the rest of the country and the world.

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