In Alameda County (Oakland/Berkeley) and San Francisco plastic bags have been banned for a few years now. Most people carry their own reusable bags or pay .10 for paper at stores. Most stores also have reusable bags for sale for 1.00 or so.

I would rather have my sturdy reusable bags than those silly flimsy plastic bags any day.

I will say this, if you're going to ban the plastic bags stores all need to put up signs that say something to the effect of "please wash your reusable bags/totes once in a while." I'm as far from a germophobe as you can get, but when I was still in retailland, there were reusable bags presented to me to fill that I refused to touch because they were so foul.

plastic bags are great for scooping cat litter!

I got to Aldi's most of the time, and so I bring my own bags - totes or insulated bags, usually. If I forget them, I'll pay the extra 6-10 cents for new ones. Sometimes I get paper, but that's when we're about to recycle newspapers, and you can't beat paper bags for that.

It has worked well in CA. People overwhelmingly use reusable bags. If I forget to bring my bags into the store with me, I just put everything back into the buggy and pack bags when I get to my car. It's not that hard to make the change.

I will be so annoyed if this passes.

When I was in SF last year they charged you for paper bags! I was on my 3rd store before I finally caught on to why the cashiers asked if I wanted a bag. I would just think, "Ugh, no. I really want to carry all these new clothes around in my hands!"

When I realized I had been charged I was more annoyed that nobody explained they would charge me. Especially in a touristy area, don't assume the customer has a clue!

They charged you in CLOTHING stores? I thought this was just for grocery bags. For clothing stores to not give you a bag is uber bad marketing.

If it's already working there, why do they need to make it a law?

I also thought it was just grocery bags. Doing the same thing at clothing stores is ridiculous.

The state law is for grocery stores, at least to start, but in SF it's already more than that. My friend bought a ton of stuff in Old Navy (3 stories, massive) and she was like "No thanks, I'm just around the corner." I made her put it all in my bags because we were 4 blocks from the hotel.


Also, when I was in Silver Springs, MD the Target charged me for plastic bags. Again, WTH don't you people tell me why you're asking and that you'll charge me! That time I paid for a plastic bag.


At least in SF I was getting nicer paper bags with handles.

Some stores only carry paper bags (that you have to pay for) and some still have plastic (that you have to pay for).

T'is true. Some other stores like Target and Best Buy don't give bags either. :( And some clothing stores have started carrying only ginormous bags so if you just bought a couple items, it wouldn't make sense to take one. The bag ban is not in every Cali city but it's spreading. I was raised to repurpose all bags, paper or plastic, so the ban doesn't feel fair to me. I use most of my bags several times before throwing them away or recycling them but I know the decision to ban isn't based on the habits of those who diligently repurpose/recycle.

Fixed that for you.

I should say in Los Angeles. We had the change about 6 months ago.

Meh, you get used to it. In San Francisco, we just carry bags with us. The only time these days I pay the 10 cents is when I buy something at Lululemon where the bag is reusable anyway.

I was in Fresno for work this past week and they're still using styrofoam food containers. Ugh.

We always saved the heavier weight bags with drawstrings we got at shoe stores and such. At least if this comes here I'll have a myriad of bags to put things in.

I agree.

However, I agree with amIblue? about reusable bags. I wish stores gave more of an incentive to use them.