San Jose City Council bans plastic bags, requires fees for paper ones

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Paper or plastic?

That's a question shoppers won't hear in San Jose starting in 2012, when plastic bags will be banned in California's third largest city.

KTVU-TV reports that the San Jose City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday to ban single-use plastic bags and bar retailers from giving away paper ones.

The ordinance requires stores to charge 10 cents for paper bags in 2012 and 25 cents in 2013 to encourage shoppers to use reusable sacks.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/12/13/state/n221220S69.DTL&tsp=1

[blueamy66]

1. Good.

It's really not that hard to use reusable cloth grocery bags.

[SoCalDem]

4. Amen.

Most people shop with a car.. Just keep reusable ones in the trunk..and a clothesbasket or two..or even a few sturdy boxes.

Put the filled-up bags you brought, into them and there's no more stuff rolling around your trunk (having escaped from the flimsy plastic wannabee bags they used to use)..

You can designate "cold stuff" in these bags & canned stuff in those bags.. Then there's no mad rush to haul it all in the minute you get home..

Our Winco store pays you 5cents for every bag you bring in

[blueamy66]

5. Yep.

I get .05 cents per bag...and you can put ALOT of groceries in the cloth bags.

I put all of the similar stuff on the conveyor belt, so that the bagger can put them all together.

It really isn't THAT HARD!

[KamaAina]

7. This San Josean does not shop with a car

so much for a quick trip to the downtown Safeway if I happen to find myself down there for an evening meeting, unless I want to lug three or four tote bags into City Hall or wherever.

edit: same deal with bottle deposit fees. People without cars get boned.

[SoCalDem]

9. I can't even imagine having to shop car-less..

I am worn out just carrying stuff in from the car :P

When my boys were small I would say :"Hey, I bought popsicles..wanna carry in the groceries"..Can't do that anymore..they grew up :rofl:

I guess without a car, you just have to shop closer & more often..

A :hug: for you on shopping day :)

[taterguy]

14. Sigh

[blueamy66]

15. But one can put alot more groceries in the cloth bags

than either a paper or plastic bag.

They are much sturdier....thus the point being made...

[tabatha]

2. Excellent news.

I am so used to using reusable bags that I cringe when I see plastic & brown bags being used.

[leftstreet]

3. Why aren't manufacturers required to package their shit in biodegradable form?

This always seems dumb to me. A nice cloth reusable bag...to tote home 15,000 tons of plastic packaging!

[enlightenment]

6. Excellent.

I hope this spreads.

[RC]

8. And so what are people suppose to use in place of those bags

now that they have been outlawed. I save mine and reuse them for everything from trash bags to knapsacks. I use then for my dirty laundry when I travel. If I take an extra pair of shoes, they go in a plastic bag to keep then off my clean clothes. Quick, convenient, they compact down to next to nothing for storage till needed. I recently moved and went through hundreds for packing stuff. To outlaw them is criminal. I should not need a file system, with several boxes in the trunk of my car. I sometimes need that space.
The reusable kind get downright unsanitary after a while. I cringe when I get behind someone using those reusable sacks at the grocery check-out, because I know that my food will be on that part of the counter in a few minutes.

[Riftaxe]

10. Well of course they will use the store bought cloth bags....

now that plastic bags have been banned.. only $19.99 and $2.00 mandatory service fee (bagging), of course you can use a non-store brand cloth bag for the $5.00 fee...

I would wager that the SJ city council are also huge fans of regressive taxation.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. What are you talking about?

The canvass bags are only 88 cents at Winco and you get a 6-cent discount every time you reuse one which means they will eventually pay for themselves. The ordinance doesn't take place for another year so people can buy one a month or so to prepare for the change.

[blueamy66]

16. um, the most expensive cloth bags I have seen in AZ

were $1.99 each. That's expensive???

Where the heck do you shop and where do you live?

I call BS.

[blueamy66]

19. Where do you live and where do you shop?

Cause you really shouldn't shop there anymore. :-)

[Le Taz Hot]

11. The reusable type can be washed.

I do it regularly.

[blueamy66]

18. Me too.

Some people just are just adverse to change.

I wash mine with the towels weekly.

What is the next argument against cloth bags gonna be?

[pipi_k]

17. Well, LL Bean sells these really neat canvas totes...

a few different sizes...the large ones can probably carry three times what those little plastic bags can, and they won't rip.

And they're washable

Or you could sew your own canvas totes.

If you knit or crochet, or know someone who does, you can have some great hand-made totes made from just about anything...twine, string, fabric strips, felted wool, etc.


Be creative! :)

[Taverner]

21. My guess is a lot of folks won't use bags anymore

They'll just load it back into the cart, then dump in the back of the car

One side effect from that might be the occasional piece of meat gets lost in the back, starts to rot and the whole car smells

[Hannah Bell]

13. good. except for bag makers.

[Taverner]

20. My guess is it will not last

And I am not so sure its a good idea - it might be - - but I'm not entirely sold on it

But it should get a try - see if it works

One thing that will happen is people won't use bags anymore period

If they forgot their reusable bag, and don't want to pay the dime, they'll just load it back in the cart, take the cart out to the car and dump it in from there