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The Watershed Project

plastic bags

The Demise of Single-Use Plastic Bags Continues | Californians ‘Ban’ding Together for a Better Tomorrow


By Ken Schwab

Great News! Momentum to eradicate the plastic bag from California is building to an all-time high. A growing list of cities and counties throughout the state are joining the effort, most recently Marin County, San Jose, and Santa Cruz County. Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi of San Francisco, who spearheaded the movement when he was a County Supervisor, appropriately described the phenomena as, “One of the most interesting wildfires of common sense.”

The results have been in for many years and the facts have not changed; plastic bags are a hazard to our environment and an economic burden on society. The bag has a short functional lifetime of a few hours whereas its destructive time span is infinite. No one can dispute that the bags’ design is intended to be disposable, for single-use, and cheaper than paper.


Although accustomed to the plastic bag, it seems that consumers are willing and able to switch to re-usable or paper bags, even at a cost. “It’s a great thing,” and “good for the environment” are a few of the comments from customers since the ban became effective on the first of the year, according to Scott Mendenhall, Executive Team Lead for Target Stores in San Jose. He also witnessed customers who were unaware of the recent ban actually run back to their cars to grab their re-usable bags. If society is so enthusiastic to make this change, then why has the campaign met with so much resistance?

The American Chemistry Council (ACC), along with the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, have made a feeble but effective effort to use lawsuits to intimidate municipalities into altering or abandoning proposed bag bans. The primary strategy for industry is to argue that society should not have fees imposed on them to purchase bags. “The thing to know overall is that plastic bag bans and fees don’t work, they just cause shifts to an alternative,” says Keith Christman, managing director of Plastics Markets for the ACC. In the case of Santa Cruz, County Board Chairman Mark Stone recently commented, “They said if we pull that restaurant (take-out bag) piece out of our ordinance, they would drop their lawsuit.” He added, “I would rather get the single-use bag ordinance in place right now, even if it means losing the restaurant bag piece.”


Despite the plastic bag lobby’s devious legal maneuvers, it seems that the general consensus among local lawmakers is on the side of bag bans. Most cities in California that are working on bans would even prefer to see a statewide measure. Rather than depleting limited local resources for individual bans, a statewide ban would have a larger backing and impact. Proponents were excited in February 2010 when Assembly Bill 1998 was introduced to ban single-use plastic bags in California. However, the bill failed to pass just six months later.

While lobbyists and government officials continue to debate the logistics of bag bans, there is a simple and easy way for you, as a watershed resident, to get involved. If every consumer took it upon themselves to embrace re-usable bags, then there would be no demand for plastic bags and hence no need to supply them. Your motivation and actions can make an immediate impact to the environment and allow future generations to thrive. “Be the change you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Ghandi

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Grassroots Activism Triumphs over Corporate Lobbyists | Cities, Counties, Citizens Take Action to Ban Single Use Plastic Bags

By Linda Hunter

Plastic bag manufacturers were dealt a critical blow last month when California’s highest court upheld a ban on plastic bags in Manhattan Beach. In its unanimous decision citing “substantial evidence and common sense” the California Supreme Court said that Manhattan Beach was not required to conduct a costly environmental review when it passed an ordinance prohibiting the bags in 2008.

The plastic industry used this requirement mandating an environmental impact report as a tactic to thwart the growing movement to ban single use plastic bags– you know, the ones that blow around everywhere– polluting our watersheds and our ocean, littering beaches, strangling wildlife and clogging landfills.

But it wasn’t the only weapon in their bag of tricks. The most prominent plastics lobby group, the American Chemistry Council, spent 1.4 million dollars to defeat a plastic bag tax in Seattle and another two million to defeat legislation that would have banned plastic bags throughout the state of California. When San Francisco proposed a tax on plastic bags four years ago, the plastic lobbyists headed straight to Sacramento and convinced the legislature to pass a law making it illegal for local municipalities to tax plastic bags. That didn’t sit well with the sponsor of the bill, San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, so he amended his legislation to ban plastic bags outright, making San Francisco the first City and County in the nation to do so. Unfortunately, when other municipalities like the City of Oakland tried to get on board, they were told that they would need to find a way to pay for the costly Environmental Impact Report. The Council has gone so far as to pressure California schools to adjust educational curriculum to include positive messages about plastic bags– a truly despicable strategy, and a punch in the gut to those working to protect our watersheds.


According to their website, “The Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council promotes the responsible use, reuse, recycling and disposal of plastic bags and creates positive change in our communities by promoting the increased recycling of plastic bags as well as their proper use, reuse and disposal. We work to create solutions to reduce the number of plastic bags that end up in our landfills and, sometimes, as litter. Together with policy makers, businesses and community members, PBA is dedicated to implementing new ideas and improving existing programs that make a difference.” PBA’s members include the leading manufacturers of plastic bags and polyethylene resins: Advance Polybag, Inc., Dow Chemical Company and Exxon Mobil.

But despite the cheery optimism coming from their spin strategists, this type of greenwashing http://plastics.americanchemistry.com/Sustainability-Recycling is simply not working anymore. In fact, the industry and their lobbyists are looking more and more ridiculous as evidenced by their David and Goliath lawsuit against Chicobag, a successful local company that makes reusable bags; and who is, according to the lawsuit, irreparably harming the plastic bag business. Well, that’s the point, right?


I am heartened by the success of small grassroots efforts to protect the environment from the damage caused by marine debris (including a recent effort by West Contra Costa County to ban plastic bags). In particular, Washington D.C. managed to pass a tax on plastic bags with the help of the local Surfrider Foundation‘s campaign: Skip the Bag, Save the River that focused on the pollution that locals could see firsthand in the troubled Anacostia River. And it worked– in just the first month plastic bag use plummeted to 3.3 million per month, down from an average of 22.5 million per month in 2009.

When plastic bags have been banned throughout the country and the planet, people will go back to doing what they did before there were plastic bags– simply bringing a reusable bag, putting smaller items in one’s pockets or purse. There will be so much less clutter in our lives and our creeks, rivers and watersheds will thank us.

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San Jose Joins the Ban-Wagon | Moving Toward a Cleaner Coastline

By Caitlin Bell

On December 16, the City of San Jose passed a landmark ban on plastic bags in retail stores, making it the largest U.S. city to implement a bag ban. The ban is one of the strictest in the country, and follows in the footsteps of other cities in California that have instituted a ban, including San Francisco, Palo Alto, Long Beach, and Malibu. Starting on January 1, 2012, plastic bags will be allowed only in restaurants, and retail stores will charge 10 cents for paper bag.

bag ban 1The ban is heralded by many as a step towards conserving the integrity of the California coastline. More than 3.8 billion single-use plastic bags are used in the Bay Area each year alone. The majority end up in landfills, or worse, in the ocean. It is estimated that more than 1 million bags end up in the bay every year.

Opponents of the bag ban consist mainly of companies that manufacture the bags, including the American Chemistry Council, which represents petroleum companies such as Exxon Mobil. The main argument against the ban is that bags can be recycled, but less than 5% of bags used in California are recycled. In addition, plastics are unable to be truly recycled. Instead of creating new plastic bags out of old plastic bags, the way old glass bottles become new glass bottles, plastic bags can only be made into less-complex plastic items like composite lumber.

bag ban 2Thin bags shred easily in the environment, but the small plastic particles remain in the ecosystem for over a thousand years. Even the smallest of particles can be ingested by marine animals that mistake them for prey, and larger pieces can entangle fish, birds, and marine mammals. One of the species most affected by plastic bag debris is the leatherback sea turtle, which mistakes the bags for the jellyfish that comprise a large part of its diet.

Other locations in California are considering plastic bag bans in the future, including Sunnyvale, Fremont, and Marin and Santa Clara Counties. However, you can begin reducing your plastic footprint today by following the following recommendations:

  • Bring your own canvas bags to the grocery store. Consider, also, that produce items don’t need that extra bag — bring smaller bags for your vegetables. Opt for items packaged in glass or cardboard, and avoid single-serve items with overzealous packaging.
  • Don’t buy bottled water. Instead, purchase a reusable water filter and use a stainless steel water bottle. You’ll save money in the process.
  • Instead of buying new plastic containers to store leftovers, re-use glass jars and containers that were unavoidable purchases — pickle jars and sour cream containers are the perfect size for your lunch.
  • Line your garbage cans with newspaper. Dumping the contents of your kitchen wastebasket into your curbside bin isn’t much harder than bringing the garbage out in a bag. And this method prevents ripped bags from spilling their contents across your living room on the way outside.
  • Buy shampoo and body wash in bulk, and refill the containers when they’re empty. Many supermarkets and specialty stores, especially in the Bay Area, offer this service. Consider using bar soap instead of body wash to avoid excess plastic packaging.

The plastic bag ban will hopefully reduce the number of plastic bags that reach our bay and ocean, and make people consider their harmful effects on the environment. However, you don’t need to wait until your city passes a law to begin revamping your consumption of plastic. Jump on the “ban-wagon” now!

Photo credits: Guardian News, The Daily Green.

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