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| Commuting takes a toll on the body--
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Paper or plastic? Never mind
It's a question that may soon be irrelevant in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Last week San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to ban plastic checkout bags at large grocery and pharmacy chains, starting next year. The stores will have the option of using either recycled paper bags or compostable corn starch bags.
Not to be outdone, this week the LA County supervisors directed the public works department to study the problem of plastic bags and within three months recommend an option, including the possibility of an outright ban.
The San Francisco Chronicle's Charlie Goodyear says:
Fifty years ago, plastic bags -- starting first with the sandwich bag -- were seen in the United States as a more sanitary and environmentally friendly alternative to the deforesting paper bag. Now an estimated 180 million plastic bags are distributed to shoppers each year in San Francisco. Made of filmy plastic, they are hard to recycle and easily blow into trees and waterways, where they are blamed for killing marine life. They also occupy much-needed landfill space.
And the Chron goes on to cite some sobering statistics:
Plastic bags by the numbers180 million
Roughly the number of plastic shopping bags distributed in San Francisco each year.
2 to 3 cents
Amount each bag costs markets, compared with anywhere from 5 to 10 cents for a biodegradable bag.
4 trillion to 5 trillion
Number of nondegradable plastic bags used worldwide annually.
430,000 gallons
Amount of oil needed to produce 100 million nondegradable plastic bags.
SF shoppers seem to be in favor of the ban (even as they defend their own use of plastic bags). But only a few spoke up for the best alternative of all: Bringing your own cloth bags from home.
Florida super markets (PUBLIX) use PLASTIC BAGS 99% of the time at the request of the customer's.