Dive Brief:

• Recently there has been a push for bans on plastic bag bans in multiple states, including California, Arizona, Missouri, Indiana, and Utah.
• This year Idaho, which imposes no bag bans or fees, is already preparing to fend-off such legislation with a proposed law to prohibit local governments from banning single-use items without first getting state approval. The bill awaits and is expected to receive Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's signature, according to Plastics News.
• In Arizona, Gov. Douglas Ducey signed into law this year a measure that prevents municipalities from regulating the sale or use of plastic bags or foam containers. He also recently signed a law stating any state legislator can ask the attorney general's office to investigate if a local policy contrasts with state law — which could affect bag bans in certain areas of the state, according to Plastics News.

Dive Insight:

The move to regulate single-use containers and bags is definitely receiving strong push back in some states. While environmentalists say the bags are burdening their landfills and littering their roads and waterways, the plastic bag industry and their supporters say such laws have no environmental benefits and only fatten retailers' bankrolls.

So the fights live on. Arizona was so determined to ban the ban that the Gov. Ducey signed the law, twice. First this past April, then again this month after a council member argued that the proposal was illegally attached to another proposal on the same bill. The two pieces of legislation were split and, finally, Arizona has become one step closer to squashing a bag ban.

Meanwhile, some states' pro-bag ban constituents are in it for the long haul. Though, so far, regulations are only pushing through in some states one municipality at a time.