Posted on 03/28/2007 10:08:35 AM PDT by presidio9
City leaders approved a ban on plastic grocery bags after weeks of lobbying on both sides from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group. San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule if Mayor Gavin Newsom signs the ban as expected.
The law, approved 10-1, requires large markets and drug stores to offer customers bags made of paper that can be recycled, plastic that breaks down easily enough to be made into compost, or reusable cloth.
San Francisco supervisors and supporters said that by banning the petroleum-based sacks, blamed for littering streets and choking marine life, the measure would go a long way toward helping the city earn its green stripes.
"Hopefully, other cities and states will follow suit," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who crafted the ban after trying to get a 15-cent per bag tax passed in 2005.
The 50 grocery stores that would be most affected by the law argued that the ban was not reasonable because plastic bags made of corn byproducts are a relatively new, expensive and untested product. Some said they might offer only paper bags at checkout.
"I think what grocers will do now that this has passed is, they will review all their options and decide what they think works best for them economically," said David Heylen, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association.
Newsom supported the measure. The switch is scheduled to take effect in six months for grocery stores and in one year for pharmacies.
Craig Noble, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it would be disappointing if grocers rejected the biodegradable plastic bag option, since more trees would have to be cut down if paper bag use increases.
The new breed of bags "offers consumers a way out of a false choice, a way out of the paper or plastic dilemma," Noble said.
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"The new breed of bags "offers consumers a way out of a false choice, a way out of the paper or plastic dilemma," Noble said."
Oh my, such a dilemma!
So much for reusable plastic bags.
SWEET! now they can pick up after their dog with paper! i hope to God that they take the plastic ones out of the parks too. If they leave them they are hypocritocal a$$ hats! ;o)
""I think what grocers will do now that this has passed is, they will review all their options and decide what they think works best for them economically," said David Heylen, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association."
How eloquent. Basiaclly, what Mr. Heylen is smugly saying is that grocers are now free to decide what brand of lubricant they wish to use.
Just do like Sam's. No bags at all.........
So what happens if I carry a gun in a plastic bag in Frisco?
It was only a few years ago that they complained that paper bags required cutting down too many trees. Guess people will just have to hire others to carry their grocerys home for them.
Dude, I'm moving to San Fran - no global warming will occur there!
This is exactly the kind of micro-managing crap that hurts the U.S. economy.
Global warming! The other day I picked up a pint of ice cream and a tub of cole slaw after I got gas at the convenience store. They asked if I wanted a bag and I declined. As I walked back to the car balancing the cole slaw on top of the ice cream it fell off, hit the ground, popped the lid off, rolled a bit and then fipped upside down. The woman who owns the store saw it, gave me a new tub of cole slaw for free, put it in a paper bag and told me to grip it with both hands.
If supermarkets used paper bags with handles then wouldn't the problem be solved?
I think I can speak for all of us when I say that I often lie awake, turning this conundrum over in my head for hours.
It's as vexing as a Zen koan.
What is the sound of one bag flapping?
I guess the smug level just went up a notch in S.F.
Many people (including me) reuse plastic bags from stores as trash bags for the various small waste baskets we have. I won't use paper ones in certain settings and if my suburb of SF were ever to fall into step with SF, I'd have to switch to store bought plastic garbage bags. DOH!!!!!
What's next? A "Consume on premises" law?
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