Guest Author - Arcadia Maximo

Following on the heels of my article weeks ago titled B.Y.O.B it seems someone out there decided to take this notion seriously. I think many of us could say we knew it was only a matter of time before someone decided to suggest this – and it’s no surprise that this idea is coming from San Francisco! I live in San Francisco, so I was a little shocked yet happy that my hometown was taking this huge initiative. I for one have always brought my own canvas bags to the grocery store, so this ban on plastic bags doesn’t really affect me or others like me that much, but what has been really shocking is that there has been very little backlash!

A few residents have grumbled that forcing grocers and pharmacies to use biodegradable plastic bags will cause an increase on our grocery bill, but overall the mood has been pretty calm. In reality this ban really isn’t such a new idea. Ikea this past March has decided to charge customers five cents on each plastic bag or you can purchase its iconic blue bag that you can use over and over.

The trend forecasters in the fashion industry must have seen this coming a long time ago as many of them have begun designing and selling fashionable canvas bags. The most popular bag is by Anya Hindmarch. It’s a cute canvas bag with the words “I’m not a plastic bag” across the front. This bag is currently only available in the UK and sold out immediately! There are plans to sell it stateside soon.

I would encourage all of you to try and get into the habit of carrying your own bags to the market and elsewhere. There are roughly 180 million plastic bags distributed yearly throughout just San Francisco, imagine all the cities worldwide combined, and it takes approximately 430,000 gallons of oil to produce 100 million nondegradable plastic bags! (Source: SF DOE)

You can also get creative on your own by making or designing your own bag. Now that San Francisco has taken this first step I’ll be curious to see what other cities follow in her footsteps.