Reminds me a bit of banning plastic bags in California to help the ocean. That's lovely, but given Asia dumps something like 150 times the amount plastics into the ocean, so is basically meaningless.
They were banned because they don't decompose, so they end up all over the place. Not just in the ocean, but on the beach, in creeks, lakes, anywhere near a highway, etc. As an example local to Silicon Valley, Stevens Creek used to be completely clogged with plastic bags. It's gotten a lot better now.
Of course any wasteland or street is still littered with fast food plastic, plastic bottles and the excessive packaging found in most supermarkets.
We have slightly effective recycling schemes for a tiny proportion of what we use, and massive amounts of recycling end up shipped to the developing world to be dumped. Manufacturers of TVs, appliances, IoT toys and any thing else using plastics aren't required to own their debris at end of lifespan.
So, as is typical with modern politics, we've had a token gesture that affects the public but utterly avoids the real issue.
The oceans are doomed unless we grow up and own our debris as a species.
China signed a climate deal with the US to limit emissions for the first time in 2014. In 2015 they and earlier this year they signed a global deal on climate also.
Leading and being by example can lead to change.
China dumps a lot of CO2, and it's growing. http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/sci...
"Paper or Plastic?
How many plastic bags does the US use in one year? 10 bags per grocery store trip x 2 trips per week x 52 weeks per year = 1000 bags per person per year. 300 x 10^6 people in the U.S. = 300 x 10^11 bags in the US per year.
Is this a lot? Compared to what? A roll of bags weighs a few ounces so there are about 200 bags/lb Your 10^3 bags weigh about 5 pounds.
The 500 gallons of gasoline you burned last year weighs 4000 pounds (2 tons).
Your 10^3 bags are irrelevant. (Just don’t litter)."
...Or use a re-usable bag ;)
I want to read "How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint Of Everything" by Mike Berners-Lee. It addresses similar disconnections on how we think about our impact on the climate, and the steps we take to try and do something. For example, people who bike everywhere, but eat foods shipped from all over the world over local produce.
I agree that focus are many times misdirected and ineffective, but that's no reason not to try.