On May 20, 2008 San Francisco's plastic bag ban, which already applied to large supermarkets, was expanded to cover chain pharmacies. The pharmacies were granted an extra six months to comply with the law.
In the photo: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signs into law the landmark plastic bag ban. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, the legislation's author and creator, looks on.
The bag ordinance, which was introduced and championed by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, bans traditional plastic carryout bags. The implementation of the ordinance marks a significant victory in the fight to reduce the amount of plastic entering the City's landfills, especially given that similar ordinances in several other cities are facing lawsuits and other pressures aimed at delaying implementation of their plastic bag bans.
San Francisco's ban on plastic bags has ignited a worldwide interest in banning these ubiquitous scourges of modern life. In addition to the immediate benefits stemming from using and discarding less plastic waste, the law has helped people to become more aware of how their actions affect the environment and led many to realize that the minor effort involved in shopping with reusable tote bags is a small price to pay for improving the environment of the City and the world.
Sale of cloth and canvas bags has increased measurably and it is becoming common to see people carrying re-usable cloth bags. I think they are the best solution. I fold one up and stick it in my back pocket, just in case I decide to stop at a store for something.
Walgreen's and Rite-Aid, the two primary mega drugstore chains in San Francisco, have switched - one to plain brown paper bags in place of the familiar plastic bags they have used for so long - and the other switched to even thicker plastic bags.
"What!", you say?
Wait a Minute! - Something's Not Quite Right!
Some stores are using extra-thick plastic bags in substitute of the toss-away plastic bags with which we are all familiar. The extra-thick bags are acceptable, they say, because they are so thick they are considered permanent re-usable bags. That means the stores may possibly be creating even more tons of plastic waste, rather than less. Obviously this is a loop-hole that needs to be plugged.
One fellow asked if the extra-thick bags are not made out of cornstarch, something that would indeed make them entirely acceptable to everyone. Cornstarch bags are tough, durable and they are completely eco-friendly and biodegradable. But, unfortunately those extra-thick bags are truly plastic. The code printed on the bottom of the bags reveal they are a petroleum-based plastic.
The next step in this evolving legislative process is to limit bags to certain materials - paper, cotton and cornstarch for example. I haven't heard of any pending legislation to specify materials, but that seems to be the next logical step.
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and the plastic bag ban legislation he created are featured in the April 28 issue of People magazine (see below). The article notes that San Francisco's plastic bag ban is the nation's first and that now more than a dozen US cities and four states are considering similar bans. It goes on to record that our country consumes between 30-100 billion bags per year, that untold thousands of sea turtles and other creatures are killed by these bags yearly, and that plastic bags have been reported to litter even remote Antarctica.
In addition to serving San Franciscans as a member of our Board of Supervisors, Ross Mirkarimi is co-founder of the California chapter of the Green Party.
For current reports about environmental leadership in San Francisco please also read:
1) Green in San Francisco - America's Greenest City
2) San Francisco's Eco-Evolution: America's Greenest City
Further information on how the ban is spreading and helping to enhance environmental awareness can be found in this NPR story and this USA Today article.
Also read:
Green in San Francisco - America's Greenest City
San Francisco's Eco-Evolution: America's Greenest City
Resources:
San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi
San Francisco Environment Department- sfenvironment.org - plastic bag ban
sfenvironment.org - homepage for San Francisco's Environment Department
California Green Party
Plastic bag story from CNN
Cornstarch bags from Going Green
Biodegradable cornstarch bags from The Bin Company
Biodegradable bags from Trellis Earth
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