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I think it's met the intended goal of less plastic litter. I live in SF and hardly ever see a plastic bag lying on the sidewalk or blowing around. It's pretty t

by tdeck 8y ago

I think it's met the intended goal of less plastic litter. I live in SF and hardly ever see a plastic bag lying on the sidewalk or blowing around. It's pretty typical to see people bring their own bags to the store which hardly anyone did in Pennsylvania where I grew up. Also, the reusable plastic bags are heavier and less likely to blow out of trash cans.

electricslpnsld 8y ago
> It's pretty typical to see people bring their own bags to the store which hardly anyone did in Pennsylvania where I grew up. I moved from CA to Pittsburgh, and people look at me like an alien when I take out reusable bags at the local grocery store. It’s pretty bizzare.
ggreer 8y ago
> I live in SF and hardly ever see a plastic bag lying on the sidewalk or blowing around. I haven’t noticed any difference. SF still has tons of litter. Less of it is plastic bags, but that wasn’t much of the volume of litter anyway. If we’re going to tax things based on their negative externalities, how about starting with hypodermic needles? The SF DPW picks up over 13,000 used needles per month.[1] They’re often left in parks where dogs and children investigate them and risk contracting hepatitis or HIV. If a plastic bag ban is worth it for the visual improvement, then restrictions or taxes on needles should be a slam dunk. 1. http://www.ktvu.com/news/discarded-dirty-needles-on-sf-sidewalks-symptomatic-of-americas-opioid-epidemic http://www.ktvu.com/news/discarded-dirty-needles-on-sf-sidew...
- richk449 8y ago
  > I haven’t noticed any difference. SF still has tons of litter. Less of it is plastic bags ... Sounds like you have noticed a difference? Unless you are suggesting that there is some "conservation of litter" principle that ensure that the total amount of litter is fixed, so reducing one kind of litter causes other kinds to increase? As for your needles argument, would a tax on needles really reduce the total externalities? Sure, it would result in less needles being bought, but that may result in move people sharing needles and transmitting diseases resulting in a much more significant cost. Something should be done about the needles, but it is not clear (a) that taxing them is a good idea, and (b) what this has to do with plastic bags.

by tdeck 8y ago

electricslpnsld 8y ago

> It's pretty typical to see people bring their own bags to the store which hardly anyone did in Pennsylvania where I grew up. I moved from CA to Pittsburgh, and people look at me like an alien when I take out reusable bags at the local grocery store. It’s pretty bizzare.

ggreer 8y ago

> I live in SF and hardly ever see a plastic bag lying on the sidewalk or blowing around. I haven’t noticed any difference. SF still has tons of litter. Less of it is plastic bags, but that wasn’t much of the volume of litter anyway. If we’re going to tax things based on their negative externalities, how about starting with hypodermic needles? The SF DPW picks up over 13,000 used needles per month.[1] They’re often left in parks where dogs and children investigate them and risk contracting hepatitis or HIV. If a plastic bag ban is worth it for the visual improvement, then restrictions or taxes on needles should be a slam dunk. 1. http://www.ktvu.com/news/discarded-dirty-needles-on-sf-sidewalks-symptomatic-of-americas-opioid-epidemic http://www.ktvu.com/news/discarded-dirty-needles-on-sf-sidew...

richk449 8y ago
> I haven’t noticed any difference. SF still has tons of litter. Less of it is plastic bags ... Sounds like you have noticed a difference? Unless you are suggesting that there is some "conservation of litter" principle that ensure that the total amount of litter is fixed, so reducing one kind of litter causes other kinds to increase? As for your needles argument, would a tax on needles really reduce the total externalities? Sure, it would result in less needles being bought, but that may result in move people sharing needles and transmitting diseases resulting in a much more significant cost. Something should be done about the needles, but it is not clear (a) that taxing them is a good idea, and (b) what this has to do with plastic bags.