SF to ban plastic bags. How will we survive?
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has voted to outlaw plastic grocery bags at large supermarkets and pharmacies within the next year. The reasoning of course involves the environment, but they apparently did not foresee the atmospheric heating caused by the invective this decision unleashed. Arguments that I have seen against this decision seem to run along these lines:
1. Paper bags are worse-- or at least not any better-- for the environment. This can be argued, as can the reverse, but the fact is that this decision is not meant to steer grocers or shoppers toward paper-- it is meant to inspire the use of biodegradable corn starch bags (which can go in the green recycling bin) or reusable cloth bags.
2. The corn starch bags are more expensive, and the cost will be passed onto the consumer. This seems to be expressed mainly by store owners feigning concern for their customers. The corn-starch bags cost the same as paper bags, which even small businesses seem able to afford. And as a Chron editorial suggests, the stores can buy the bags in greater bulk to offset the extra price.
3. The ban is being selectively applied to supermarkets and pharmacies, while other businesses can still use plastic. You gotta start somewhere.
4. San Francisco is run by stupid damn limousine-liberal hippies, and everything they do is stupid and unrealistic. SF may be the first city in the US to adopt this ban, but we were beat to the punch by such hotbeds of hippie-dom as South Africa, Ireland, and Germany.
From a design perspective, the corn-starch bags will have all the functionality of the plastic ones, but with the added bonus of being reclaimable, so it sounds like a win-win. Arguments against the ban amount to mere inertia against progress. Society has not had a problem adapting to Spudware or corn-starch packing peanuts, so I'm not too worried about the supposed consequences.
Besides, SF should make as much of its plastic out of plant products as possible, so that when the Big One hits and we're all trapped in the rubble, we can subsist on our bags, cutlery, and packing material.
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