Much ado about bags

In the S.F. Chronicle this morning C.W. Nevius tells us of a new move by Supervisors to encourage reusable bags in grocery stores. Current law in the City bans plastic bags in grocery stores and requires the stores to provide paper bags. All the stores I've seen offer inexpensive reusable bags for sale and encourage shoppers to use these by offering a nickel off the grocery bill for people who don't require a paper bag. Unfortunately, this still hasn't persuaded the majority of shoppers to use the reusable ones. Now Supervisor Mirkarimi has suggested that grocery stores be required to pay shoppers ten cents if they don't require the paper bags. Maybe this would work, but it would mean more costs for grocers, who would pass it on to all shoppers, even those of us who carry our own bags. A more effective system, as Nevius points out, would be a small fee for people who don't bring their own bag, but this is forbidden by law in San Francisco. Let's repeal that law and get the city moving toward eliminating one-use bags whether plastic or paper. It's remarkable what changes in behavior even a small fee can bring.

Taking out the garbage

San Francisco has its challenges, and now it seems that garbage is one of them. Many of us in the city have been separating garbage into blue, black or green bins for years now, but this has not been done all over the city. Now a strict new law will make it mandatory for everyone to participate in this recycling effort. If this system is successful it will cut down on San Francisco's production of greenhouses gases and make the environment better for all of us. Speaking as one who has sorted garbage for several years now, I must admit there are still questions that come up--where do milk cartons go? what about light bulbs? which kind of bulb? Citizens will get new lists of types of materials suitable for each bin, but be prepared for a few kitchen table arguments, especially with children, about exactly where each item belongs. Don't worry! San Franciscans can cope with earthquakes and mudslides, so we can surely overcome the garbage problem. And it feels so good to get it right!