First State to Ban Plastic Bags in Hopes to Decrease Environmental Pollution is Hawaii

Hawaii has become the first state in the U.S. to ban plastic bags at checkout counters. Four of the state's five counties have issued the ban, with the final county not being a factor because it is barely populated.

The island has had a history of having stores and restaurants charge customers for plastic bags; yet officials soon realized they might as well make it a state-wide issue. Hawaii is the first U.S. state to enact the ban, but big cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Portland and Washington D.C. also have done so.

From now on, customers will be forced to purchase reusable bags and bring them along to stores and restaurants, or they can receive paper bags at the checkout. Plastic bags will still be limited to uses for meat, fish, fresh produce, etc. One of Hawaii's counties, Oahu, is set to begin the ban in July 2015, while the other bans are already in effect. Residents of Oahu will still either choose to purchase plastic bags or bring their own reusable bags until next July.

Hawaii's Sierra Club played a big role in the process of achieving the ban, though they were not directly involved in the legislation process. Robert Harris is the Director of Sierra Club's Hawaii chapter and is a strong proponent of the ban.

"We lobbied extensively for statewide legislation, which failed, but it helped direct attention to the issue and eventually got the last county to take action," he said in this NBC News article.

He also thought the state was at a better advantage than others to successfully pass such a ban because Hawaii's citizens are more likely to be outside and in the water, which gives them more exposure to see the harmful effects of plastic pollution. To Harris, this was an important factor in getting the four County Councils to collectively issue the state-wide ban without approval from the Hawaii state legislature.

To read more about Hawaii's ban on plastic bags, visit this LiveScience article.