I live in a place that will never ban plastic bags and residents often fly giant flags from posts on their pickup trucks further reducing their fuel efficiency.

I live in a place that will never ban plastic bags and residents often fly giant flags from posts on their pickup trucks further reducing their fuel efficiency. But it seems this is a sort of social game designed to trick people into doing the "right thing". Would it not be a better solution to mandate use of plant-based biodegradable bags or just regular old paper bags like in the good old days?