San Francisco Moves To Ban Plastic Bags

Supermarkets Have Six Months, Drugstores A Year To Replace Bags

(CBS/AP)  San Francisco city leaders approved a ban on plastic grocery bags after weeks of lobbying on both sides from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group.

If Mayor Gavin Newsom signs the ban as expected, San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule.

The law, passed by a 10-1 vote, requires large markets and drug stores to give customers only a choice among bags made of paper that can be recycled, plastic that breaks down easily enough to be made into compost, or reusable cloth.

Major grocery stores, with annual retail sales of $2 million or more have until October to switch to something that dissolves more easily, reports Manuel Ramos of CBS station KPIX. Large pharmacies have until next year.

"I think it's good. I think the environment needs to get greener," said shopper Heidi Bass.

"You see them flying around all the time on the streets," added shopper Lexi Kent-Monning.

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, just like many other countries have done and cities in other countries," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who crafted the ban after trying to get a 15-cent per bag tax passed in 2005. "They've either banned plastic bags altogether, levied a very high fee or have sought an alternative like a biodegradable bag."

San Francisco officials estimate up to 200 million of these plastic bags are used each year, reports CBS News correspondent Steve Futterman.

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.

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.

[r-u-kidding]

Here's a conservative that would like to see paper bags return. While, I'm against it being a government regulation, I agree that paper bags are better for the environment and people can recycle them. This may be the first time I agree with the San Fran locals, as I normally think they're WAY off base.

[brian31462]

BIODEGRADEABLE bags are not worth the trouble and cost of producing. Anyone who would have to carry their groceries for any distance would find them all over the street. Going to paper is as bad if not worse, because though people do recycle, not enough do it to offset the number of trees being cut down yearly to produce the bags that are thrown away. If they want to institute a law, go with a reusable fabric or canvas bag that can be washed if something spills on it, can be sewn if it gets ripped and is strong enough to last more than one use.

[jmejia1572]

R-U-Kidding,
2 million trees will go down for the paper bags.

[extremophil]

Now if San Francisco can only place a ban on willful ignorance.......

[mo005]

I think everyone should buy and use their own bags, and reuse them . Thus cutting down on over all use of plastic and or paper sacks uses. I have seen reusable shopping bags at stores you can buy. Never stopped and looked at them but they do sell them.

[mo005]

If someone could market custom shopping sacks it would sell. Like BRIAN31462 said make them out a reusable fabric thats light and durable, yet easy to store in a glove box. Make them so they are washable and easy to clean. They could save alot of money and trees.

[diverinnl]

I lived in Europe for 5 years and folks there bring their own bags to the store and have been for years. Essentially canvas square bags the size of paper bags here in the states. You can buy the plastic ones at the store but they're pretty steep. If they have this figured out, why haven't we?

[random_radar]

Remember a few years ago when all the environmentally conscious were telling people to use paper bags? You know why they quit doing that?

The processing for making paper bags produces a lot of pollutants. Even though ordinary people think paper bags are "good" for the environment, they are worse than plastic. A lot of environmentalism is feel good mythology, but that's okay because people really just want to be fat, dumb, and happy.

Canvas bags are the way to go. Small start-up cost in terms of pollution to make the canvas, but they last for years and save lots of resources and avoid lots of solid waste.

[cathaleen]

This is too rediculous to commment on.

[vancouverboo]

In Europe (where the checkers do their job sitting down, by the way - it seems to work just as well, just as fast, just as efficient, but saves a lot of misery to the checkers) the customer has to bring his/her own bag. Everyone has cloth bags which they reuse over and over.
They also charge 1 Euro to use the push cart. You get it back at the end when you leave the store. One Euro to plug in when you get your cart, one Euro back when you plug your cart in at the door.
They're way ahead of us. But we could learn.

[susieq_13]

I think this is a good idea.

[janiceb47]

I am so glad something is being done about the way overuse of plastic bags. As was said, they are dangerous for the enviroment. And most certainly they are a danger to children too.
Paper bags though are not thr answer. They too are environmentally unsafe and deplete this beautiful earth of its trees & enough oxygen.
I am old enough to remember the time before plastic when paper bags were used exclusively. They ripped easily. It was not fun trying to pick up all the fallen items and walking a few blocks with them while keeping my little ones safe. Canvas square bags are the best way to go.

[hypnotoad72]

With grocers not having to buy the bags, it would save them money and subsequently would (in theory) reflect the savings onto the customers. But we know that's just a theory. :)

[sainethepain]

I am so glad they have nothing better to do with there time. We all know there is no crime , shootings, holde ups, nothing like that to woory about, just bags. Way to go

[minnchas-2009]

If S.F. bans plastic bags, what are all of S.F.'s numerous homeless people going to use to carry thier belongings in?

[ecuadoriana]

(continued from above) I will never understand the mentality putting 1 or 2 items in a plastic bag so that the customer now has 50 bags to carry- all of which end up negatively impacting the environment. Or how about when they put a plastic gallon jug of water, which has a handle, into a plastic bag, then they want to double the bag so it won't tear! I tear my hair out when I see that! The freakin' water is already IN PLASTIC w/ a handle! Duh! Why do they think the handle is on the bottle?

Don't get me started!

[ecuadoriana]

FINALLY! Some stores with common sense! I've been using my own cloth & mesh bags for years. One mesh bag I've been using since 1983 (that's a LOT of plastic & paper saved!)

The most idiotic thing I experience, repeatedly, is the baggers & cashiers at stores don't know what to do with my bags when I place them on the conveyor belt in front of my items. Especially here in florida the Publix supermarkets seem to hire the dumbest baggers on the planet & walmart refuses to allow my to use my own bags so I don't shop there- f**k 'em. At the Publix they'll pick the bags up (one of which is a huge canvas bag I purchased at their store which is emblazoned with the Publix logo!) & ask "What do you want me to do with these bags?" (I think: Please kid, don't make me answer that). One time the bagger, someone old enough to know better, actually bundled up all 3 of my bags & PUT THEM INSIDE A PLASTIC BAG & put it in my cart! & then proceeded to put my items in plastic bags! Another time I brought my own insulated bag because I was only buying a carton of ice cream. The cashier started to put the icecream into a plastic bag. I said I wanted it in my own bag. She put the IC into my bag but then started to put that into a plastic bag! I ask them all the time: "Don't you ever think about what you're doing? Why are you acting like a plastic bag dispensing robot? THINK!" I have to train them every time I shop. I've even spoken to the managers & they just nod & smile. (cont. below)

[mbburch]

The real issue here: if The State can tell us what kinds of grocery bags to use, what's to stop it from interfering in other private aspects of our lives?

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
--James Madison

[rray52]

Why not all stores not just the ones with over 2 million in annual sales?

[nlm2383]

vancouverboo, I understand what your saying about the carts. I lived in Florida and there was a department store that had a yellow stripe around their parking lot. You couldn't take the carts past that line, there was something magnetic in the ground and in the cart that prevented it. I live in Tennessee and there is at least one store here that requires you to pay like 50 cents to get a cart, you get your money back when you take it back.

[nlm2383]

A lot of environmentalism is feel good mythology, but that's okay because people really just want to be fat, dumb, and happy.

Posted by random_radar at 11:22 AM : Mar 28, 2007


Next time I see a fat person using canvas bags I'm going to tell them they shouldn't bother. They're just fat, dumb and happy and should just use 5 or 6 plastic bags...Just because of this ignorant comment.

[ecuadoriana]

"The real issue...if The State can tell us what kinds of grocery bags to use, what's to stop it from interfering in other private aspects of our lives?"
Posted by mbburch at 02:03 PM

The "state" already interferes w/"private aspects of our lives". It tells you not to drive drunk, to obey traffic laws, babies need to be in car seats. It tells you not to murder, rape, abuse your spouse & kids. It suggests you not steal, commit arson, deal in drugs & couterfeiting. You can't build a house or hunt w/out a permit or license! Child porn could be considered a "private aspect", but for some reason it's illegal. Why do you think that is?

Some of these activities could be considered private. But all of these laws/rules/suggestions, as most can agree, are only there to help us keep others safe from our stupidity. Because basically humans are too dumb for their own good (the idiot in the ER w/a coke bottle stuck up his butt, the guy who cuts his own hand off w/a chain saw, the woman who blow drys her hair in the bathtub, hot cups of coffee between legs...)

Why do people get so bent out of shape hearing a suggestion on how to protect the life of the planet from our stupidity? Why is it a bad idea to create laws that protect the earth? Isn't that where your children play? Do you like to see plastic bags & garbage floating in the waterways, injuring & killing wildlife? You like garbage? You like sleeping in your own sh*!? Ewww.

[smb221]

I think it's a great idea. ecuadoriana, I agree with you on your post. Most of the baggers where I live don't really think about what they're doing and will put virtually everything in a freakin' plastic bag.

[ampsanne]

I would take paper bags over plastic bags any day. But like some of you have said that would affect our tree population. Perhaps the burlap bag or even the tote bags they make would be of better use. Reusable and washable and fold up for convenience. I find with the plastic bags they try to cram so much into them, and then the bottom tears. Seems some store clerks don't have any common sense. Ever have a clerk put sand paper in a bag with some fine closthing? We have a grocery store where the customer packs their own groceries. They put out the empty boxes for customers. I have several boxes and when I go back to the store to shop, I take them along and their used again.

[fizzal-2009]

If they are so woried about the enviroment why don,t they cut the parking lots in half plant trees that produce oxygen and force car pooling. stop widening roads by taking property from taxpayers and eliminateing taxpaying properties.

[griking]

I say ban plastic AND paper bags at grocery stores and encourage customers to purchase reusable hemp bags. Believe me, people will *** and moan at first but the would eventually get used to it. When you think about how many paper and plastic bags are thrown away nation wise daily it really boggles the mind.

[ca659]

Bravo, San Francisco!!

[hermit22]

did you see the report on those tests on women's purses and bags? they were FILTHY with germs and bacteria. i do not like to see some old filthy "reused bag" on the grocery counter. how many times has someone sneezed on it in the last week? have they plopped that bag on the dirty floor? does it go into the trunk with the rest of the grime? did it have raw meat in it before?
and then some "holier than thou" brings it back to the grocery store to save a bag. NO THANKS!

[mo005]

Hermit22: Says("i do not like to see some old filthy "reused bag" on the grocery counter. how many times has someone sneezed on it in the last week? have they plopped that bag on the dirty floor?") Where in the heck do you think those cans and bottles and everything else has been your buying!!! Someone sneezed on something you just bought. Hello, If you own the bags you clean the bags. I work on the road and wash my clothes while living out of motels. I carry a mesh laundry bag that I clean along with the dirty clothes. I'f you wash your bags once a week with your other stuff they will be clean and so will the world outside. Really look along side of the road and count the number of bags blowing down the interstate.

[alaskaorb]

You know, I say the more plastic the better. No, really! If it weren't for plastic, my father, who knows everything about anything you'd care to discuss, wouldn't have anything to burn on the weekend. We don't need any more electric or hybrid cars either. Just the other day as I was admiring the pile of cigarette butts at the curb while waiting for the light to change and the camera to take my picture, I was thinking to myself, that song's really beautiful, and then my mind went to some of the paintings I'd seen and the books I'd read. Then I saw one of those plastic bags blow past the car. Then it occured to me. I had an (and I'm sure I'll spell this incorrectly) an epiphany! All of these beautiful things that have come into creation, either through man or nature, will some day not exist. The world as we know it will come to an end and we'll have gone with it. There won't be anything left of us, except maybe for those plastic bags. And even those, in the end will be gone. We have the ability to change, to change our stewardship of the things around us, to finally overcome our obsesion with wealth and power, but as long as we elect preachers to the presidency, and cultures continue to teach their children that it's ok to strap bombs to themselves and blow up other people's children, then what the hell, trash the place. It's gone already.

[alaskaorb]

I mean, for cryin out loud people. A pope has the audacity to give voice to some truth about Islam and the next thing you know, some group's out their slitting the throat of a nun to prove what he said isn't true? An administration who at every opportunity tries to circumvent environmental laws because it would place to much of a cost burden on industry (and by the way has, like my father, decided that they, the poloticians know better than the scientists what that scientific report on global warming should say). 12 soldiers held hostage by Iran, a meglomaniatic dictator on the Korean peninsila with nukes, and a Venisualan leader sellin us oil right after he flipped us the bird (and we're still buying it), people of different faiths swearing up and down that a rock in the middle of a god forsaken desert is the most important place in all the universe to God, and you guy's are freakin out about plastic bags. Holly ***!!!

[michellem99-2009]

I have my own cloth bags and my jean purse and they do get washed. I am into recycling. I am one who rather use my own bags as I can carry them and they don't cut into my arm. I have seen the stories of women's bags being nasty as it's sick but I try to keed them clean. I am just a poor person that feel cloth is better. I don't care about a few cents as it's for Mum Earth and the US of A. I am for this and I don't live in CA.

[ecuadoriana]

"...i do not like to see some old filthy "reused bag" on the grocery counter. how many times has someone sneezed on it in the last week? have they plopped that bag on the dirty floor? does it go into the trunk with the rest of the grime?..."
Posted by Hermit22 at 09:38 PM : Mar 28, 2007

Wow, Hermit22, do you not wash your produce off before consuming it because you assume that everyone from the migrant farmer in the field to the pimply faced store clerk has been sprayed down with anti-bacterial soap?

Those "filthy, reused bags" are a heck of a lot cleaner than the produce that was handled repeatedly by even filthier hands before it even made it INTO the store!

How about the shoppers who steal a few grapes & then hand a few to their nose-picking kid? Do you seriously believe that every time an onion rolls onto the floor one of the employees rushes it into the back room & hoses it down? You know they just toss it back into the bin. Do you think the tomatoes just magically grew in the produce isle? How do you think the shelves get stocked- by some sterile robotic arm in a plastic, air-tight bubble? What about that bag boy? Were you not aware that he was out smoking a cigarette on his break & never even boiled his hands before he put your germ-free items in the bag?

Yet you, the germ phobic, have no qualms about dirtying up the environment with more & more plastic bags which you've falsely led yourself to believe are sterile & germ free when filling up the landfills.

[hermit22]

Ecuadoriana, do you live in california or someplace south? i worked for awhile in food manufacturing in the midwest where they run a tight ship on foods etc. it is NOT like the NY rats playing in the restaurant, or the rats running around the produce like the report on California produce etc.

california food growers need to provide decent bathrooms for workers.

[hermit22]

rather than plastic bags at the counter, clerk puts the stuff into a cleanable PORTABLE BOX cart marked PAID. customer moves that cart to parking lot,or a REPACK area, where the customer can put goods into whatever container they think makes sence. if you shop for 4-6 weeks at a time....repack into a sealable lid trunk box....if you just buy a quart of milk repack it into your cloth bag or into your pocket, but DO NOT put "who knows what" up on the grocery check out counters. ....KIDS,who may have wondered right through doo doo and bubble gum etc, stay OUT of the grocery carts too, unless they stay in the seats provided.

[michellem99-2009]

1,I use the cloth bags and they stowed neatly in my pack so when I go the store I have them.
The carts are dirtier than my bags,
2. The counter where you place your food to be rung up is dirtier than my bags.
3.You have no idea who has handled what or if they washed their hands after using the restroom.
4.When you shop for your food, where you touch is dirtier than my bags.
5. I went cloth bags so they can/are washed as I walk to and from the store.
6. Most people are dirtier than my bags.
7.I am not any better the next person.
This my say.