San Francisco thinks green: Plastic grocery bags banned

SAN FRANCISCO — This environmentally friendly city put a green spin Tuesday on the checkout question "Paper or plastic?" by becoming the first in the United States to outlaw non-recyclable plastic bags from use in supermarkets, drugstores and other large retailers.

By a 10-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors required the use of compostable or recyclable bags — a move officials predicted could soon be imitated by other cities.

Each year, businesses here dispense an estimated 180 million plastic bags that ultimately kill marine life and clog landfills, said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

The Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance, written by Mirkarimi and co-sponsored by six other supervisors, gives major supermarket chains with more than $2 million in annual sales six months to make the switch to biodegradable bags. Pharmacies and retailers with at least five locations have one year. Violators face fines of up to $500.

At a news conference before the bill's passage, Mirkarimi handed out canvas shopping bags that read "SF Environment: Our Home. Our City. Our Planet." The new law calls for bags that are reusable or made of recyclable paper or plastic that can be composted.

"We can take steps to make our economy a little more soulful in San Francisco," Mirkarimi said. "We can't sleepwalk into the future. The end of the era of cheap oil is here."

Advocates say biodegradable bags are stronger than conventional petroleum-based polyurethane plastic bags. In his office before the news conference, Mirkarimi produced a biodegradable bag holding 55 pounds of rocks.

The ordinance, endorsed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, was vigorously opposed by the California Grocers Association, which said that the ban would frustrate current recycling efforts and cost consumers, who would end up paying for the higher-priced bags.

"The proposed ordinance will have unintended consequences," said Kristin Power, the group's vice president of government relations. "Compostable plastic bags can't be recycled like regular plastic, so if consumers confuse the two, they'll render the entire batch unusable."

Currently only 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled, city officials said.

A typical plastic bag cost less than a penny to produce. Paper bags cost about 5 cents apiece. The newer biodegradable bags, made from materials such as potato starch, each cost 4 to 8 cents, but advocates say the price will drop with increased demand.