Editorial: What plastic bag ban? California stores still doling out disposable sacks
It’s hard to believe the plastic bag ban is still going on in California.
The order, which went into effect early Saturday, requires retailers to phase out single-use plastic bags at grocery stores by July 1.
Plastic bags, which are used to separate produce from other produce and to carry them to the refrigerator, freezer, or the trash, take up too much room. They make their way down the grocery aisle in these disposable plastic bags — made of a polyethylene plastic material — that we don’t even want to think about.
In fact, the retailers are not required to charge extra for these plastic bags. The fee is a penalty.
That means that the bag fee for a $20 single-use plastic bag, which is $5, or $3, or whatever, is going up by about $1.50 a month.
Some Californians have already gotten used to paying three times as much for a single-use plastic bag because it allows them to fit more produce in the cart.
The bags can be recycled but are not recyclable.
That’s because of the polyethylene (the stuff they’re made out of), which is not readily recyclable.
The bags get rid of some of the plastic-bag scourge but are not the biggest thing to blame.
A plastic bag ban would make a world of difference.
The plastic bag problem in California is so bad that, for the last 13 years, the state has banned the use of plastic bags at stores in order to get the bags out of the grocery aisle.
It was a tough sell because grocery stores didn’t want to be the first to have the bag ban.
It was a tough sell because grocery stores didn’t want to be the first to have the bag ban.
It was a tough sell because grocery stores didn’t want to be the first to have the bag ban.
Many companies were able to work around the ban by making bags that were not all that convenient for consumers.
The ban also required that plastic bags are allowed in restaurants.
It’s
