Should we ban plastic shopping bags?

In March 2007, San Francisco became the first city to ban plastic shopping bags.  Here in Portland, Commissioner Sam Adams has started the discussion on whether we should 'Bag' the Bags.  A Portland Business Journal quick survey shows that 57 percent of respondents think we should bag the bags.  A concerned urbanMama Gillian would love to hear your thoughts on pushing this issue to the forefront.  Save the Earth and the PPS budget crisis in one fell swoop?

I've been stewing this idea around in my head for a while and chatting with other mom's in my neighborhood and I thought someone out there in the urbanMamas community who might be able to help me get the idea out, or even help me iron out the details.

I try my best to use cloth grocery bags when I do my shopping. Although some stores (Fred Meyer in particular) always seem to have clerks that are openly irritated by my wanting to use my bags, most people are great about it. But even though I tote several around in my car and my stroller, I forget, I buy too much or sometimes I just space it and wind up with a dozen non recyclable plastic bags floating around at the end of the week.

Our family moved back to Portland last spring after a stint in Dublin, Ireland. One of the things that we quickly got used to there was that there was a 15 cent tax on plastic grocery bags and I have been thinking that Portland could do something similar. So if you had your own bags, you pay nothing, if you need a bag, you pay a minimal price for them. Now, if that little tax went straight to Portland Public Schools which are always struggling, all the better.

It seems like the kind of progressive thing Portlanders could be persuaded to do and I know from experience, it forces you to be more conscious of bringing those bags than a 5 cent discount on your groceries does.

Do you have suggestions on how this idea could be made better and how we could push it forward?

Comments

[hau]

Gillian: I love this idea. It makes people think about the cost of plastic bags if they have to pay for it. Fred Meyer is not so bad because you can request paper bags, but my biggest grip is Target. I think they have a one item per bag policy.

As for moving it forward, maybe our friends at OEC can provide us with some direction? Maybe we need to continue email Commissioner Sam et. al. to let them know it's an issue we care about? I'm green at this but it is a concept of great interest. Thanks for bringing it up!

[Jennifer]

I think this is a great idea - and not just for Portland, but this should be statewide