According to the study Richard quotes in his original post (http://kut.org/post/austin-bag-ban-study-finds-reusable-plastic-bag-use-rise), the majority of bags _in the recycling stream_ are reusable. Which makes sense if the majority of bags being put into the system are reusable (because of the bag ban).

What the study (http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=232679) mentions is that the overall number of bags has dropped by over 75% — almost 200 MILLION bags that are no longer entering into the system (for re-use or recycling or disposal).

Austinites use 85 SUB (single use bag)s per person, vs. Fort Worth’s 335 (no bag-ban).

And yes, there are more reusable bags in the disposal (recycling) system than before. But there are dramatically fewer SUBs in the system — instead of making up 85% of the bags being recycled (by weight), SUBS now make up 7% of bags being recycled (by weight).

Most importantly — when you combine single-use and multi-use bags together (to determine if the change results in “fewer bags of any type”), you end up — according to the study — with a reduction from 36 bags per 1,000 lbs of recycling to 7 bags per 1,000 lbs of recycling.

That, frankly is the “simple conclusion” of the study.