SF to Ban Plastic Bags
March 29th, 2007
Once Gavin Newsom gives his signature to a new law on his desk, San Francisco will become the first major city in America to ban plastic bags in large markets and drug stores. Beginning a year from now, merchants will be only able to offer paper, biodegradable plastic, or cloth in their stores.
The replacement for plastic is a similar material made from corn byproducts, thus making them largely biodegradable, certainly much more than their plastic cousins.
A group representing the fifty grocery stores most affected claim the the corn bags are “new, expensive and untested product.” Still, San Francisco is taken a bold step towards regulating its local environment as best as it can, even if consumers will bear the price difference in the short term.
Link via Yahoo News
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March 29th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
I think it’s interesting that the (oil derived) plastic bag ban will likely become law, but that a 15-cent per bag tax on bags didn’t pass in 2005.
I wonder if it’s the nature of the law, or a change in the general attitude because as Jeff points out, the consumers will likely be passed the cost of the biodegradable bags, effectively making it a tax. I’m curious as this all plays out if the stores will impose a cost on bags or if overall store prices will rise to accommodate for the new cost.
While I think biodegradable bags are great, ultimately I believe that it’s better to reuse bags rather than to copiously consume biodegradable bags.
... Vestal’s working on a solution, so keep your eyes out for a whole new breed of bag.
http://vestaldesign.com/foresight/Vestal_BetterBags.pdf
January 1st, 2010 at 12:54 am
how did you do that biodegradable plastic??what are the materials and procedures done by doing this product??