The TimesUnion published a blurb about the plastic bag ban that was enacted four years ago.
The sub-headline tries to draw a conclusion that isn’t supported by the rest of the article, and doesn’t really stand up to a moment’s reflection.
It’s worth remembering that even if paper bag usage remains as high as it is, that’s still better than having all those bags be plastic (even ignoring the tax revenue). It’s also worth considering that part of why that number may be high is that curbside-to-go grocery orders are very much a thing now, and they rely on paper bags.
And maybe the number isn’t coming down much because compared with the rising cost of groceries, $0.05 for a paper bag (with significantly greater carrying capacity than the plastic bag it replaced) simply doesn’t add up very quickly.