I don't know if many have noticed but lately, at least in the Bay Area, I have been seeing a sign in many stores stating that they will be phasing out plastic bags. I think this is great progress. Here is a link for further reading: http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/23-
worldwide-movement-to-ban-or-charge-fees-for-plastic-ba
gs/ . Anyone else have more information? How much do you think this will help us?

I think banning plastic bags is a great idea! Not only do they litter the world's oceans and beaches, they also cause recycling center equipment to jam, clog sewers, and take huge amounts of oil to produce.

While tote bags are starting to catch on, banning the bags is bound to be more effective than trying to get people to purchase cloth bags on their own. I recently read in a Rolling Stone article that a small 15-cent bag fee in Ireland cut plastic bag use by 90 percent. China cut plastic bag use by two-thirds in just one year, saving the equivalent of 11.7 million barrels of oil. Amazing!

Here's some more information about plastic bags and why they should be banned:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patc
h
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-plastic-b
ag-wars-20110725#ixzz1fotRsN19
http://www.grist.org/list/2011-07-27-the-plastics-indus
try-will-do-anything-to-keep-you-using-plastic

I agree that trying to get people to purchase the tote bags is not working that well. The only thing that seems to be working is imposing a tax on the bags or banning them altogether. I'm so glad we are finallydoing this! Thanks for the links!

I think that because plastic bags are so cheap and convenient, it's hard for either customers or stores to willfully give up plastic bags. Whats even more disturbing is the fact that I have been to a couple stores where they no longer take back plastic bags. The only explanation was that there just isn't a market for them. Not only are plastic bags being refused by stores but by city waste programs as well. Cities do not want plastic bags going through their single-stream program because it is difficult and costly. In order for plastic bags to be recycled they are required to be very clean and dry before they can even begin the recycling process. Plastic bags also tend to get stuck in equipment which requires operators to shut down machines in order to cut and remove bags that get stuck. This alone has cost the city of Austin $175,000 a year in the past. The use of plastic bags is such a waste it serves its purpose only once, well most do, and then it becomes trash and because they're free people like their milk double bagged or their tiny can of soup bagged. I'm all for banning plastic bags.