No More Free Rides…For Our Groceries?
Did you know that San Francisco was the first city in the country to ban the pervasive plastic shopping bag? That right! Three years ago, right here in the city. Of course it didn’t take long before Palo Alto and Oakland followed suit, and we’re always happy to lead the environmental way, and to keep baggies out of the bay where they end up inside marine mammals and out of the landfills where they will still be usable a thousand years from now. As an environmentally-aware healthcare provider, this particular achievement has always made me feel good…about us. But, now, other cities are complaining about our San Francisco experiment, and even threatening lawsuits amongst themselves because they say that banning plastic bags “forces” customers to carry out their purchases in paper bags! And, of course, there is a point here because there is definitely an environment cost to producing more and more paper bags from trees.
So, what’s the environmentally healthy answer? San Jose, Berkeley and Santa Clara County want to persuade people to use “reusable bags.” Their first step, which they are working on now, is to establish ordinances that would restrict the distribution of paper and plastic bags at checkout. How will they inspire consumers? By banning both all together or charging fees for the store-provided totes.
Before the city ordinances went into effect, San Francisco residents used 3.8 billion plastic bags annually. It’s been estimated my local officials that the ban has but that total by 100 million, so obvious it wasn’t a “perfect” solution. But, since 90 billion plastic bags are distributed in this country every year, with no healthy destination once the groceries are put away, something needs to be done on a national basis. I say, if we can no longer get “free meals” in coach class when we fly but are “forced” to come prepared, maybe it’s time to charge for bags at the store so that we can plan ahead and bring our own. What are your thoughts on this?
Comments
When I lived in Germany, you had to buy your plastic bags in the store (kinda expensive) or you have to bring your own bags with you. Everyone recycled over there too (you pay a deposit on every bottle and when you bring it back, you get the deposit back). I noticed that Trader Joes carries “corn” bags instead of plastic, which seems like an eco-friendly alternative when you don’t want to carry around a huge paper bag.
Hats off to SF being the leaders in getting rid of plastic bags! There’s some really great articles on the blog…thanks!