On Earth Day, San Mateo County (California) bans most plastic carry-out bags
There are so many bags, and they are lightweight, easily carried by the wind to our natural areas, including the ocean, thanks to our almost never-ceasing strong winds. Reducing the bags, which these actions will do, will reduce pollution from them, though it won't eliminate it, reducing the supply of bags by a large amount will make a significant difference and is worthwhile.
12 San Mateo County Cities Enact Plastic Bag Bans On Earth Day
The move to recyclable or reusable bags is seen as an environmental win for San Mateo County, where an estimated 550 million plastic bags are handed out by retailers every year, Peterson said.
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Many of the bags end up as litter, clogging creeks, storm drains and waterways that flow into the San Francisco Bay, he said.
Daly City Vice Mayor David Canepa said public works agencies are typically stuck with the job of clearing drains of plastic bags, or picking them up at parks and public beaches.
“Who has to clean up all these bags? We do,” said Canepa, who introduced his city’s bag ban in January.
“So the taxpayer wins because the city is always stuck with cleaning them up,” he said.
Daly City is among the dozen cities joining San Mateo County in implementing plastic bag bans Monday. The other cities are Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Colma, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Menlo Park, Pacifica, Portola Valley, San Bruno and South San Francisco, according to the county.
Four other cities—East Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Carlos and San Mateo—have similar bans in the works. Millbrae already has a plastic bag ban in place.
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Customers who don’t bring their own reusable bags will be charged at least a 10-cent fee for a paper or recyclable bag. The fee will rise to 25 cents in 2015.
Businesses that are exempt from the ban are non-profit retail businesses like Goodwill, and restaurants with take-out business, which will still be permitted to package to-go food in plastic bags, Peterson said.
More information on San Mateo County’s plastic bag ban can be found online at http://www.smchealth.org/bagban.
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I should do a regional tutorial, people love them when I'm in line at the grocery stores 
Here's a link for DIY types: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/how-tuesday-how-to-make-plarn-crochet-an-eco-friendly-tote-b/
I'm glad SMC went this direction. Mexico City has biodegradable shopping bags and it didn't seem to affect commerce. Our waterways in the Peninsula need some love.
I bought compostable 4 gallon bags for our small trash cans. I live in an apartment, so I don't have large trash can collection. I previously used extra small plastic shopping bags for reuse in the trash. It would be cool if local stores would stock them, I bought a box on amazon. http://www.swansonvitamins.com/pack-n-green-eco-friendly-bags-small-garbage-bags-4-gallon-30-bags-s?SourceCode=INTL140
