Plastic Bag Ban Will Accomplish Nothing

As California mires itself deeper in debt and tries to figure out how to deal with a $20 billion budget deficit, the legislature is taking up the vastly more important subject of....plastic shopping bags.  They are seeking to ban them from all stores and force us to take "reusable" bags to the store.  Well, let's see how these bag bans have worked in the past:

In 2007 San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban plastic bags at supermarkets and pharmacies. Litter audits conducted before and after the ban found that not only did the ban provide no positive environmental impact, plastic bags actually comprised a higher percentage of total litter after the ban.

Trash composition studies show plastic bags that would be banned under AB 1998 are a negligible contributor total litter, making up less than one percent of street litter and accounting for less than one half of one percent of landfill use according to a 2004 study commissioned by the Integrated Waste Management Board.

Supporters of a statewide bag prohibition also claim it will improve public health. Yet it may very well have the opposite effect as there is reason to fear outlawing plastic bags can cause an unnecessary public health risk.

Reusable bags, whose use AB 1998 aims to encourage, become easily contaminated when used to transport common household items. Tests conducted by a Miami news station found a reusable bag used to transport meat “covered with bacteria.” A bag that had been used to transport produce contained “80 organisms of coliform.” Coliform is a bacteria found in the excrement of warm blooded animals, not exactly something you want your groceries anywhere near, let alone wading in. Despite what I’m sure are the noblest intentions of AB 1998 proponents, the fact is, that in addition to providing no environmental benefit, a ban on plastic bags will also impose an unnecessary risk to public health and food safety.

Facts don't matter. It's all about "feeling" good and deluding yourself into believing that you're "making a difference".

The California legislature is hell-bent to destroy this state.