Ban the Bag?

**greenmary** · 03-06-2011 10:55 PM

Ban the Bag?

By Mary Munat,
www.ReduceSingleUse.org

A free public forum investigating single-use bags in Sonoma County – paper as well as plastic - was held on February 2 at the Santa Rosa City Hall. Sponsored by North Bay Corporation, and organized by Sonoma County- based ReduceSingleUse.org, the forum drew over 100 people, including several elected representatives.

A worldwide movement away from the plastic carriers was outlined by Keynote Speaker Carol Misseldine of Green Cities California, who presented economic, social and environmental supporting evidence from around the country and beyond.

The retailer’s view is that any ordinance needs to impact all stores evenly, not merely the larger grocery stores, as explained by Safeway’s Susan Houghton, Northern California Director of Public and Governmental Affairs.

While the general focus of bans around the country and the world has been plastic bags, paper bags featured largely in this discussion as equally environmentally harmful. Since they don’t stand out in such blowing, snagging, clogging contrast on our roadsides and in our waterways, they land slightly behind plastic in emphasis. The need to include a fee on paper bags in any proposed ordinance to reimburse stores for increased costs and to encourage shoppers to shift to reusable bags was mentioned by all of the six participating panelists.

This year alone, four U.S. cities have adopted such bans, with Marin County passing their own on January 25 despite a threat from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), representing the plastic bag industry. Marin Supervisor Charles McGlashan, at the February 2 forum, said, “Bring it on,” as his board challenged the threat and voted in favor of the ordinance. Some cities and counties, like Los Angeles and San Jose, have prepared Environmental Impact Reports in advance of adopting bag bans, in order to avoid action from the aggressively litigious ACC. The Marin Board of Supervisors, however, proceeded with a “Categorical Exemption,” maintaining that a ban on plastic bags can do nothing but good for the environment and spending upwards of $200,000 on an EIR to prove it is not necessary.

Waste Agency Considers Ban

The Sonoma County Waste Management Agency has been considering a ban for two years. Patrick Carter, a waste management specialist with the agency, presented evidence of the need to draft such an ordinance, and the agency has just sent letters out to over 400 grocery stores in the county informing them of this possible, even likely, mandate.

San Francisco’s Kevin Drew, Zero Waste Coordinator of the city’s Department of the Environment, shared San Francisco’s experience with a ban on plastic bags. The resultant increase in paper bag usage cost Safeway alone over $1,000,000 last year, according to Susan Houghton, providing further encouragement to move rapidly away from all single-use bags.

Panelist Robert Bateman, President of Roplast Industries, a plastic bag manufacturing company, was also in favor of movement away from single- use bags but maintained that plastic bags intended for multiple-use are a viable alternative.

Help reducing litter and waste

Next steps for pro-active individual shift, including news for how to live life with far less plastics, were offered by Mary Munat. Chair of ReduceSingleuse.org, a newly formed all-volunteer organization, she also presented proposals to help our decision-makers move forward. A strategy committee currently seeks an influx of ideas and energy, she said, and they are preparing a two- pronged approach, trusting that Plan A – in which the SCWMA drafts a bag ordinance encompassing the whole county - will be successful. Plan B would be a city-by-city, citizen-led initiative drive and far too slow in the face of current environmental impacts of plastic litter.

Students from Sebastopol and Ukiah attended, with the latter reporting their participation in and support of Mendocino County’s blossoming bag ban campaign. The forum, with further sponsorship by Global Materials Recovery Services, Sonoma Compost, Mike McGuire, Taylor Maid Farm Coffee, Oliver’s Market and WaccoBB.net, will be rebroadcast, thanks to the Community Media Center. Further information available at www.reducesingleuse.org includes relevant news about bag bans and the thriving trends of reuse and increased environmental responsibility.

Mary Munat, owner of Green Mary, makes her living doing event waste diversion at public events around the San Francisco Bay Area, with a strong focus on waste prevention and eco-education. She works with Green Sangha’s Rethinking Plastics Campaign to reduce plastics consumption across the board, and thrives on collaboration on all matters pertaining to environmental accountability. She and other RPC and ReduceSingleUse.org members are available for presentation. Contact her at: www.green-mary.com

**Hotspring 44** · 03-09-2011 10:51 AM

I think there should always be brand-new, recycled or recyclable clean paper bags available even if it costs extra to the shopper for that.

I reuse virtually all of my paper bags at least once and then I Place them in the proper recycling container in my local area when they are too worn out or I am done with them.

If I know there is a choice or I am asked, I always opt for the paper bag; not plastic.

My main concern about reusable bags is; the level of hygiene of the masses and how that relates to sanitation.

Some people will inevitably end up setting their bags down on the ground (or wherever else) that I would not consider "sanitary".
Then they could go shopping with those bags the next time without adequately cleaning them.

Then of course there is the issue of spreading germs from people that have communicable diseases such as the flu in the reusing of shopping bags.

Not everybody is as good at personal hygiene or as sanitary as we would like.
Some people may even sneeze into or wipe their nose on reusable bags without putting them in the laundry later before the next use.

As an example I have noticed on occasion people going to the restroom in public places. A lot of them don't even wash their hands after using the potty!

I know that sounds ridiculous, but unfortunately, things like that happen frequently enough for it to be a legitimate concern.

I think it would probably be too much to ask a clerk at the store to be the clean bag police.
For one thing you can't see germs with the naked eye. Therefore it would be a subjective judgment that could, if nothing else, open the door for "veiled" discrimination at the checkout counter.

A well washed worn-out (reusable) bag may actually be more sanitary than a clean looking one but may not look it.

I'm not against reuse bags. I am just considering the education people need to prevent unnecessary spreading of disease.
Retraining/reeducating clerks and store owners about how often and what to clean their conveyor belts andcheckout counters with may help, but there is still the issue of handling the handles on those bags when loading them with groceries and the potential of transferring germs on to the handles of the next bags.
Then of course educating the public to reduce the likelihood of spreading germs by encouraging them to properly wash their reusable shopping bags.

I don't know if anybody else has actually brought up the sanitary issue specifically Re: reusable shopping bags.
But it's one that I think should be brought up in the public forum at city hall or wherever else those large public meetings and lawmakers meet to make decisions on such matters so that we can be reasonably assured that going shopping for food will not become more likely to cause us to get the flu or any other undesirable disease that is transmitted by touch.

**"Mad" Miles** · 03-09-2011 01:49 PM

Ban plastic, keep paper (preferably made from recycled wood pulp, or some other more sustainable plant fiber).

Plastic lasts practically forever, contributes to pollution and the ocean plastic gyres.

Paper biodegrades (unless packed in a landfill, then it takes a lot, lot longer), and comes from a renewable resource.

If they/we ban all disposable grocery bags, I'll have to start buying bags for my trash and recycling. I'll do it, but I would prefer not to. Just one more little hassle and expense to add to a life full of them.

For any ultra-militant enviros who've read this far, yeah, reusable is optimal (clean and laundered of course!). But that doesn't solve my issue with needing something to dispose of trash and recycling in. And Mr. Zero Waste, I understand. Great argument, theoretically sound. But we're not there yet, and I won't debate the minutia here.

Tara All,

**theindependenteye** · 03-09-2011 04:44 PM

Considering Hotspring's concern about sanitation, I have to admit that often I go fully clothed to the grocery store, and sometimes in shirt and pants I've worn a day or more.

>>>Some people will inevitably end up setting their bags down on the ground (or wherever else) that I would not consider "sanitary".

I sit down on the chair in a coffee shop, sometimes even on a bench on the Square. God knows who's just sat there, or what viruses may creep out through the faded denim.

>>>Some people may even sneeze into or wipe their nose on reusable bags without putting them in the laundry later before the next use.

And it's even more likely that if they have no kleenex, they'd probably wipe on their sleeve before they'd consider a shopping bag. That sleeve might brush me, especially if I'm in the endless fast-line at Whole Foods.

>>>As an example I have noticed on occasion people going to the restroom in public places.

I've noticed people using public restrooms too, and in weaker moments have even used them myself. I do wash my hands, but not before hitching up my pants. I've never seen any shit stains transferred onto my belt loops, but you never know. Next time I'll try to hold it, or else waddle to the sink before I pull up my pants.

>>>I don't know if anybody else has actually brought up the sanitary issue specifically Re: reusable shopping bags.

And if that's addressed we should be equally concerned about this clothing issue in supermarkets. Can we deal with people wearing day-old pants in supermarkets? I'm not proposing naked shoppers. Maybe we could compromise? Underwear?

Cheers--
Conrad

**Hotspring 44** · 03-09-2011 09:20 PM