Another example is that in many places, the ban on plastic bags wasn't a ban on plastic bags, it was a ban on free plastic bags.

Just charging a couple cents per bag makes people reconsider it, even when they're buying $100 worth of groceries and alcohol.

In the US people use the same amount of plastic is being used and most are not shy to pay a few cents for per bag except for the same minority who are conscientious and bring their onw reusable bags. Imo the cost of comfort is too cheap. If bags costed $1 people would start to bring their own reusable bags in larger numbers.

It’s fundamentally a regressive tax. Increasing it would just exacerbate this inequality.

I guess this is just another way that Americans are just very different from the rest of the world hah

I've seen a recent documentary about Lausanne (Swiss) I think where people were ticketed 150 euro for throwing household trash into the public bins (though it wasn't clear how it was determined it was household trash). It seemed excessive but I understand how this could teach people quickly to do the right thing. And yes, the household bags had to have stickers or a special bag that cost around 2 euro.