Ban on Bags
Posted by lthreatt on March 11, 2007
(photo credit:en.wikipedia.org)
Earlier in the year I wrote about the difference between paper and plastic bags. It seems that San Francisco is having a similar dilemma because they are in theprocess of trying to pass a bill to stop large corporations from using plastic bags. First I asked myself, what’s the problem with plastic bags? In my first blog I concluded that paper bags were worst but I didn’t exactly focus on the damage that plastic bags can do. These plastic bags use unneeded amounts of fossil fuel to make, litter the streets, and pose a threat to wildlife. This isn’t the first time that SanFrancisco has made an effort to decrease the amounts of plastic bags. In 2005, the government made an agreement with the major grocery stores that the stores would decrease the amounts of plastic bags that they handed out so that there would be 10 million plastic bags less used in 2006. Unfortunately, the grocery stores hadn’t held up their part of the agreement by only saving about 7.6 less plastic bags in 2006.
The next question I asked myself was, if they aren’t going to use plastic bags, then what are they going to use? The San Francisco government decided that instead of the standard plastic bags, grocery stores would have to supply for their costumers with biodegradable bags, cloth or sturdy plastic bags that can be used repeatedly. But wait, if they are trying to ban the standard plastic bags, then why are they replacing them with thicker plastic bags? Although I’m a little baffled behind this concept, I understand their logic. Even though there would be more plastic needed, the idea would be that the people use the bags multiple times cutting down the amounts of total bags distributed every day. Then there are cloth bags, yes they would be the ideal choice because of reusability, but it raises the issue of cost. And in modern America money is an important factor in every decision. In terms of plastic bags, it costs retailers about $4 million annually. With this new ban maybe retailers would be able to save money.
This sounds like a good plan on behalf of San Francisco to cut down on plastic bags. It would save fuel, money and the environment from harm. Although there are a few questions that this ban will raise, only time will tell.
Sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17517200/
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=10
abbyr said
I think that it is a smart idea to do this. Although companies may need to produce more plastic at first because the bags are thicker, in the long run it makes sense because they are reusable. Like you said, it might even monetarily benefit the companies.