San Francisco's Got A Brand New Bag

So here's the deal: over a year ago, the Board of Supes passed a measure that would cut down on the amount of plastic bags supermarkets and other big sized stores hand out to customers. Gotta save the environment. Now, according to that measure, stores were supposed to check in with the Board to let them know how everything was going. They haven't done it. And not only have they not done it, they got the state legislature to give them a few loopholes to not have to do it.

Naturally, everyone is a little upset. Gavin, who supported the measure, said he was deceived. Ross Mirkirami, the one who first proposed the measure, isn't very happy and wants to schedule a hearing. He also managed to get a dig in at the Mayor for not fighting the bill in the state legislature. Peter Larkin, president of the California Grocers Association, however said it's no big deal and that they'll provide a report on how well things are going in a few weeks (it’s so hard to generate reports in the holiday season). As for that measure that was passed in the Assembly that created the loopholes, they had nothing to do with it.

So where does this leave us? Look for posturing followed by hearings and meetings followed shortly by some sort of compromise that the supermarkets will probably wriggle out of. Actually, SFist remembers when some of the supermarkets used to feature paper bags with handles on them. It was perfect because it was paper, so environmentally friendly (and made excellent bags to put recyclables in) but it made it easy to carry, which is why everyone gets plastic bags. For whatever reason, we stopped seeing them shortly after they were introduced. Wouldn't reintroducing those bags be a win-win for everyone? Or is that just too easy?