[tony_cannistra]

Not an economist, but it strikes me that perhaps a better way than "making producers pay for the clean-up" (short of regulating their production in the first place) is to make users pay for the cleanup. If some sort of "tax" or "fee" on these items is passed to consumers, I'd bet we'd see less use. Hell, I live in Seattle, and the $0.05 I have to pay to get a paper bag in the store (plastic is mostly banned) is enough to make me bring my cotton bag.