Plastic bags to remain in stores after ban fails

Posted: Sep 1, 2010 5:58 PM by Nancy Chen
Updated: Sep 1, 2010 9:46 PM

Local stores react to failure of plastic bag ban

It all happens so fast--paper or plastic?

Most of us pay with some plastic, and take our goods home in the same.

Plastic bags are here to stay after a proposed ban on them fails in the state legislature.

The California State Senate voted last night against a bill to ban the plastic shopping bags.

The bill was seven votes short of the majority it needed.

Manufacturers of the bags lobbied against the ban, calling it a job killer.

"So often it happens so fast, and they're bagging before you get a chance," said Denise Topham, a resident of San Luis Obispo.

But what are the long-term effects of that one-second decision?

"It's permanent, and it's long term and it never breaks down," said Maria Kelly, a spokesperson for San Luis Obispo environmentalist group ECOSLO, said. "It never goes away, it's always a part of our environment."

Spencer's Fresh Market in San Luis Obispo goes through 2 to 3 thousand bags a day. And it all adds up--the bill's author says the state of California goes through 19 billion of these a year.

The owner of Spencer's says he's against the ban and that its supporters aren't thinking ahead about what happens after there aren't any bags.

"It's important that we have something to package and give to our customers, something for them to take their purchases away from them in," John Spencer said.

Spencer offers reusable bags for sale but says his customers often forget to bring them in.

"People do what's convenient," Kelly said. "And it's convenient, and you're offered a plastic bag and you're at the store and you're in a hurry, we live a very fast-paced lifestyle. But behaviors can be changed."

Many people recycle plastic bags, but Kelly says even that's not enough.

"It's one of those things that are very difficult to reuse," she said.

Kelly says that even though the ban failed, it's now up to customers to reuse their bags, doing their part to preserve their environment.

Some California cities already have a plastic bag ban in place, but this would have been the first statewide one.

And under the failed law, customers would have been able to buy a bag at the store for about five cents.

While paper breaks down more easily than plastic, most environmental experts say they also contribute too much waste and that the best option is to bring re-usable bags.

Santa Barbara Democratic Assemblyman Pedro Nava was a co-author of the bill. He voted for it when it went through the Assembly.

San Luis Obispo Republican Senator Sam Blakeslee abstained from it last night but says he's against the bill as it stands.