SF Bans Plastic Check Outbags

[Charles Pearson]

Another "first" in the nation for San Francisco as our Board of Supervisors at City Hall voted 10 - 1 to ban plastic check outbags from large grocery and pharmacy chains...

SF Bans Plastic Check Outbags

[unless]

This has already happened in two small towns in northern Canada. I had no idea SF was considering such a move.

http://www.planetizen.com/news/redirect.ph...9&nid=23362

Personally, I never get plastic bags at the grocery store, it is incredibly wasteful. I always bring cloth bags as well as re-used clear plastic bags for produce. However, going this route is a massive uphill battle, going against the deeply ingrained culture of waste that we live in. In general, the assumption is that everything that you purchase everywhere must go into a plastic bag, even if it would be easier to carry otherwise; and check-out has become so hyper-efficient that it is usually in the bag before you can ask for no bag, and if you do ask the checker looks at you like you are from Mars. Blockbuster now puts one DVD in a plastic bag - go figure? I think the most ridiculous example of this so far was the other day, my girlfriend was buying a TUBE OF CHAPSTICK and the checker put it in a plastic bag!

ON THE OTHER HAND

I think that a top-down, authoritarian BAN on plastic bags is not the way to go. Much better would be a market-based solution, simply levy a "bag tax" so that stores pay for ALL the costs plastic bags impose on society. Including: subsidized petroleum, clean-up, pollution, harm to wildlife, recycling, and so on. The store could then decide as a business model whether they want to pass these costs on to the consumers, by charging per-bag (as is common throughout Europe), or just absorb it into the costs of their products, or eliminate plastic bags and use something else.

[dgreco]

This has already happened in two small towns in northern Canada. I had no idea SF was considering such a move.

http://www.planetizen.com/news/redirect.ph...9&nid=23362

Personally, I never get plastic bags at the grocery store, it is incredibly wasteful. I always bring cloth bags as well as re-used clear plastic bags for produce. However, going this route is a massive uphill battle, going against the deeply ingrained culture of waste that we live in. In general, the assumption is that everything that you purchase everywhere must go into a plastic bag, even if it would be easier to carry otherwise; and check-out has become so hyper-efficient that it is usually in the bag before you can ask for no bag, and if you do ask the checker looks at you like you are from Mars. Blockbuster now puts one DVD in a plastic bag - go figure? I think the most ridiculous example of this so far was the other day, my girlfriend was buying a TUBE OF CHAPSTICK and the checker put it in a plastic bag!

ON THE OTHER HAND

I think that a top-down, authoritarian BAN on plastic bags is not the way to go. Much better would be a market-based solution, simply levy a "bag tax" so that stores pay for ALL the costs plastic bags impose on society. Including: subsidized petroleum, clean-up, pollution, harm to wildlife, recycling, and so on. The store could then decide as a business model whether they want to pass these costs on to the consumers, by charging per-bag (as is common throughout Europe), or just absorb it into the costs of their products, or eliminate plastic bags and use something else.

[Charles Pearson]

...it's all good for the planet (I suppose)...then I've been using my "Kaiser" cloth bag when I do go to my local SAFEway at Market & Church Streets for 2 years now...the issue had been ongoing for while between the City's Sups & the chains...apparently the recycle % is still too low...but this gives our Sups something to wrangle with 100K+ salaries...

Canada, IMO, has been ahead of what comes out of US politics...

[davidzLA]

hopefully they make paperbags with handles.

[Charles Pearson]

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Supervisors give final OK to ban on plastic bags

The Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to a ban on plastic checkout bags in large grocery and pharmacy chains.

San Francisco has become the first city in the nation to implement such a ban following Tuesday

[FromCityToRural]

They do, Trader Joe's uses paper bags with handles.

[dgreco]

when did/is this going to become a reality?

[Charles Pearson]

when did/is this going to become a reality?

[dgreco]

i wonder the reasoning behnd 6 months to a year, think they have that many in storage that they are giving them time to use them? I can't imagine it is that hard to make the transition.

[dixiecupdrinking]

I know that in Ireland they levy a tax on bags at the grocery store.. something like 20-40 cents a bag? It seemed like a creative solution

[atlrvr]

Boston is contemplating a similar proposal to outlaw plastic bags.....I'm all for it....I have a friend who is a saleswoman for a plastic bag distributor in Charlotte, I bet she's not as excited

[dgreco]

they should make canvas bags and sell them at the grocery story, except I am sure eventually sales would stop. Or go to a system like most clothing stores and use the paper bags with the thread handles.