The number of plastic and paper bags Chicagoans used to haul home their groceries dropped 42 percent in the first month after city officials imposed a 7-cents per bag tax in an effort to keep the disposable sacks out of area landfills.

The study paid for by the city — and conducted by ideas42, a behavior design lab, as well as researchers from New York University and the University of Chicago Energy and Environment Lab —measured plastic and paper bag use at large grocery stores in Chicago one month before and one month after the tax was imposed.

Read Full Article