MAJOR retailers have launched a ban campaign ahead of a new law that will force shoppers to change their habits or face additional charges.
The move is being backed by major retailers like Target, CVS and Kroger before the changes come in under law in a few months.
The campaign is being launched in more than 1,000 Southern California locations this week to encourage customers to stop using disposable plastic shopping bags.
It comes ahead of a new law that will be effective from January 1, 2026 banning plastic shopping bags at checkouts throughout California.
But some customers may not be too thrilled by the change that will come with a new price tag.
Shoppers who do not bring re-usable bags will only have the choice of paper bags which will come at a fee.
From January onwards, retailers will have to charge at least $0.10 per paper or reusable bag.
The only exceptions to this rule are bags for prescriptions, unwrapped food, and to protect items from damage.
Also, those on SNAP benefits will be exempt from the additional fees.
The “Break Up With Single-Use Bags” campaign is the largest of its kind in the Sunshine State.
It is being launched by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners.
From this week, shoppers can expect to see signs throughout stores alerting them to the upcoming change, urging them to ditch bad bag habits now.
The campaign is also going digital through social media, television and audio streaming platforms.
“This campaign reflects a growing movement of retailers and communities working together, guided by data and a shared vision, to shift the retail experience toward one that eliminates waste altogether by reducing our reliance on disposable bags,” Kate Daly, managing partner at Closed Loop Partners and head of the Center for the Circular Economy, said in a statement.
Big name retailers have also voiced their support.
“This latest initiative aims to collaboratively address waste in our neighborhoods, stores and everyday decisions, creating a positive impact for individuals and the planet,” said Jenny McColloch, CVS Health vice president of sustainability and community impact.
The move follows a wider trend.
According to research by the World Economic Forum, more than 500 municipalities in 28 states had plastic bag legislation in effect as of 2021.
And the following states have single-use plastic bags bans:
It is estimated that such bans “eliminate almost 300 single-use plastic bags per person per year, on average,” analysis by Environment America and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund said.
And states that already have these bans in action say they are effective.
“The bottom line is that plastic bag bans work,” Faran Savitz, a zero-waste advocate with the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, said.
“Millions of Pennsylvanians have realized that it’s easy to live without plastic bags and get used to bringing a bag from home or skipping a bag when they can.”
“That means less waste and less litter. For our children to inherit a less polluted Earth, that’s exactly what we need,” Savitz said.
Bans in five states and cities that cover more than 12 million people combined including Santa Barbara have reduced single-use plastic bag consumption by about 6 billion bags per year, according to Environment America.
FOX Sports is looking to fight ESPN head for sports TV star power
After Pat McAfee helped to transform College GameDay and Stephen A. Smith inked a massive contract with ESPN, Fox Sports needed an answer.
The network has since found their counter to ESPN’s stars.
Fox Sports is banking on the popularity of social media company Bartstool Sports to help them fight back against ESPN.
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Fox Sports, will now be a regular face on Fox’s premier college football program, Big Noon Kickoff.
On top of that, he will air a weekly Barstool-produced show with personalities like Dan “Big Cat” Katz.
That show is intended to directly compete with ESPN’s Get Up and First Take.
Portnoy’s introduction to the Big Noon Kickoff cast is almost certainly a direct response to the success of McAfee joining College GameDay.
Barstool previously broke into live TV with ESPN, airing a show called Barstool Van Talk in 2017.
It was a spinoff of the podcast Pardon My Take and appeared on ESPN2 for just one episode.
It was immediately canceled after backlash from employees.
“While we had approval of the content of the show, I erred in assuming we could distance our efforts from the Barstool site and its content,” then ESPN president John Skipper said at the time.
It appears that Fox and Barstool won’t have the same issues as ESPN based on a post from Portnoy.
“This is the 1st time in our illustrious and notorious history that we’ve got a (TV) partner we believe in and believes in us,” Portnoy wrote on X.
Fox desperately needs a win in the form of a sports studio show.
Despite restructuring its content months ago, Fox Sports just cancelled multiple shows again.
Speak, The Facility, and Breakfast Ball were all cancelled due to poor ratings.
If Barstool’s new show can get anywhere close to the ratings of First Take or The Pat McAfee Show, it will be a huge success for Fox.
They have a good base to work off to for viewership.
Barstool’s biggest podcast, Pardon My Take, is consistently one of the most popular sports podcasts.
It is currently ranked No. 1 on both Spotify and Apple, with the Pat McAfee show far behind.
If that viewership translates to live TV, Fox could have a big winner on its hands.
A HUGE family was slaughtered, skinned, cooked and eaten in a cave nearly 6,000 years ago, a new study reveals.
Neolithic cannibals feasted on at least 11 people – including kids – in what’s now northern Spain, the victims’ remains show.
Bones discovered at the El Mirador cave showed clear evidence of cannibalism, including cut marks, human bite marks and fractures for marrow extraction.
The bones also showed signs of being boiled, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.
The gruesome event is believed to have occurred over a few days during the final phase of the Neolithic – or New Stone Age – occupation of the cave.
Researchers believe the cannibalism was a result of violence between groups – not ritual or famine.
“This was neither a funerary tradition nor a response to extreme famine,” said study co-author Francesc Marginedas, who is an IPHES evolutionary anthropologist and quaternary archaeologist.
“The evidence points to a violent episode, given how quickly it all took place – possibly the result of conflict between neighbouring farming communities,” he added.
Based on radiocarbon dating, the bones were found to be between 5,573 and 5,709 years old.
A chemical analysis revealed that the individuals were local to the region and likely a nuclear or extended family, with ages ranging from under seven to over 50.
The analysis also confirmed suspicions they had been killed over a short period of time.
The discovery has captured the attention of historians studying the Neolithic period as it offers rare evidence of conflict-driven cannibalism.
The Neolithic period, which lasted till around 2000 BC, is understood to have been marked by upheaval and conflict.
Humanity shifted from nomadic foraging and hunting to settled farming and animal domestication – sparking new social hierarchies and competition over land and resources.
“Conflict and the development of strategies to manage and prevent it are part of human nature,” said study co-author, archaeologist and IPHES researcher Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo.
“Ethnographic and archaeological records show that even in the less stratified and small-scale societies, violent episodes can occur in which the enemies could be consumed as a form of ultimate elimination.”
In the early 2000s, archaeologists found the remains of six people with similar marks at El Mirador cave.
“Taphonomic analysis revealed the existence of cutmarks, human toothmarks, cooking damage, and deliberate breakage in most of the remains recovered, suggesting a clear case of gastronomic cannibalism,” wrote the authors of the study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
The remains are younger than the recently discovered ones, dating to the early Bronze Age – about 4,600 to 4,100 years old.
Meanwhile, human remains recently found in Maszycka Cave in Poland suggest victims of cannibalism during an act of war.
A study published in Scientific Reports in February analysed 53 bones belonging to at least 10 people, six adults and four children.
The 18,000-year-old bones show signs of butchering and were hard to distinguish from the animal bones they were found alongside.
Cut marks and fractures reveal the attackers cracked open skulls and scooped out brains.
The pattern indicates they targeted the most calorie-rich parts – the brains, bone marrow and muscles – shortly after death.
