Seattle became on Monday one of the first major American cities to discourage the use of paper and plastic shopping bags by requiring grocery, drug and convenience stores to charge 20 cents per bag. The City Council also banned plastic foam food and drink containers.The laws go into effect on January 1st. Of course people avoid this fee by bringing in their own bags.
The filmy plastic grocery bags are hard to recycle and are messy. They blow around streets, snag in trees and float in waterways. Some reports say the plastic shreds are eaten by fish and other marine life, and kill them. Plastic bags are made with petroleum products, and usually are used just once, before being thrown away.
Did you know San Francisco has banned plastic bags from checkouts in supermarkets and LA is following in their footsteps?
What is your opinion on banning or charging for plastic bags? Have you cut down your use of them since cloth bags are so inexpensive and readily available?
You can find more info on the Seattle plastic bag fee here:
Seattle "green" fee news
2 comments:
I have definitely cut down on using plastic bags at the checkstand when I go to the store. I try to take my cloth bags with me when possible, or nix a bag at all when not necessary. Although with my shortage of plastic bags in the house, also comes the dilemma of what to use to clean up after the dog, haha.
I am not sure what to think of the fee for bags. I'm on the fence, but leaning one way. I see it as a great way to discourage the use of plastic (and paper) bags, and the cloth bags are so inexpensive and hold so much more! I can't imagine going to the store though, forgetting my cloth bag and getting charged to use their bags. It's something we have never had to think about before...
I don't want to be charged for plastic bags! I use my "cloth" bags whenever I remember to bring them in--THAT took a lot of practice and negative reinforcement (making myself walk all the way back to the car to retrieve them when I forgot them) or skip a bag altogether if I can--but what will I use for cleaning the cat box if I never bring home any plastic bags? If there must be a charge for plastic bags, perhaps it should be the same as the credit for using cloth bags...
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