Researchers find that nationwide policies to ban plastic bags may be paying off, with fewer showing up during coastal cleanups.

State and local policies to regulate the use of plastic bags have significantly reduced how many of them are found littered along U.S. shorelines — potentially cutting that type of waste in half in certain places, a new study published Thursday in the journal Science found.

Plastic bag bans and fees reduce shoreline litter, but research has found they aren't enough to solve global plastic pollution.