New Times / Letter To The Editor

Consumers bear the brunt of this wrong-headed ban

John Winthrop

As I write this, it's been barely a week since the anti single-use plastic bag ordinance went into effect here in SLO County, and the grumbling over this wrong-headed decision by the county supervisors to impose such a nonsensical solution on the general public is getting louder by the second.

Do the do-gooders really think that this decision will reduce the incidence of plastic, bags or otherwise, in the waste stream in any measureable manner? Get real. I used to make plastic bags in a factory (KORDITE, in Macedon, N.Y.) back in the day, so it's not like I'm new to the situation. And there's no doubt that plastic packaging (check virtually everything sold in your local supermarket) is the norm now, rather than the exception. Even the bags you put your sprouts and carrots in are made of plastic, and what do you do with them after you get home? You throw ’em away!

The difference now is that what used to be part of the contract with your retailer for shopping there, a recyclable paper bag in which to get your goodies home, now has a price tag: 10 cents, minimum.

So who gets stiffed? The consumer. Again. And all he did was wish to shop locally.