In March 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to ban the use of plastic checkout bags at large supermarkets and chain pharmacies. Instead, the city allows compostable bags or bags made from recyclable paper. The groundbreaking legislation, which was sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, was approved by the Board of Supervisors 10-1.
While the California Grocers Association was disappointed with the decision, city residents overall seemed to support the measure – even if it meant higher prices to pay for the new bags. The reason? The price seemed small when compared to the litter/pollution, threat to marine life, and shrinking landfill space which plastic bags cause.
To make petroleum-based plastic bags, it takes 430,000 gallons of oil for every 100 million bags. An approximate 180 million plastic bags are (were) distributed in San Francisco every year. Now with the ban on the biggest plastic bag consumers, that number should reduce considerably.
The success of the plastic-bag ban could lead to similar legislation. Supervisor Mirkarimi is also looking to ban Styrofoam food containers for much of the same reasons. In addition, S.F. recently adopted the use of clean-fuel construction vehicles too, which is good news as city construction is endless here!
FYI: It should also be noted that while San Francisco is the first city in the nation to pass a plastic bag ordinance, plastic bags have already been outlawed in South Africa, Taiwan, and Bangladesh. Ireland levies a tax on plastic bags to curb usage, which was actually the approach San Francisco first attempted in 2005. After two years of debate, the ban was imposed.
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