Originally Posted by
LM225
And I applaud DC for it -- it was a great step forward and the river really needed it.
But many stores in SF haven't handed out plastic bags in years, and as of last year they've been completely banned city-wide. These are paper bags I'm talking about, and there haven't been any issues with those washing up in the bay.
Paper bags may not have issues with washing up in water bodies, but they have their own environmental problems, such as deforestation, carbon emissions, and so on.
When San Francisco banned plastic bags in grocery stores several years ago, most stores switched to paper bags, which are not necessarily any better for the environment overall. That is why DC and other cities decided to ban or tax both paper and plastic. San Francisco introduced the paper bag levy last year in order to get people to bring reusable bags rather than just switching to paper.
This has generally been successful; if you go to grocery stores in the LA area, the majority of customers bring reusable bags with them. Of course in an airport environment if anyone needs a bag they will just pay the charge because they are unlikely to bring reusable bags with them.