4 ms·

It is a ban of plastic bags from supermarkets. People have some decency, but with ban there is no way to dispose excrements.

jquery 7y ago
Interesting theory, do you have any citations? It does sound plausible and seems to coincide with my experience in San Francisco (the problem did seem to get somewhat worse after the ban), but maybe that's coincidence or just my anecdotal experience.
- jakear 7y ago
  Food stamps recipients don’t pay the bag tax, which would make me less inclined to believe that theory. But I don’t know how many of these people are on EBT.
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    People weren't just using their own bags, they were scavenging bags from the garbage (or the streets—discsrded single use bags were eveeywhere.) Banning designed-as single use bags (and encouraging reuse with a minimum charge per bag) greatly reduced the number of scavengable bags.
dragonwriter 7y ago
> It is a ban of plastic bags from supermarkets. It's a ban of free or single-use plastic bags from supermarkets; bags must be reusable (with specified strength standards for plastic bags), and there is a minimum charge.
gfodor 7y ago
holy cow this is a great theory. i haven't heard it before, and it would cut through a ton of noise if this could be supported by data. can it? the disappearance of readily available plastic bags (in the trash, floating around, etc) certainly would make way more sense as something that could suddenly have a huge impact than other theories which are stabbing in the dark at higher level variables that have trended slowly over time like shelter access or density of public restrooms. it would also explain why this problem is uniquely SF -- given the social signaling that is associated with a store being seen as environmentally conscious (by abandoning plastic bags) compared to other cities, it wouldn't surprise me if the rate and degree of abandonment of plastic bags outpaced other California cities. this certainly seems like the kind of thing that will bubble up to economics textbooks if true, a classic case of unintended consequences by tweaking incentives and regulations. i hope it gets more attention.
groundlogic 7y ago
Relevant: "Plastic-bag ban led to hep A health crisis?" https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-plastic-bag-ban-led-hep-health-crisis/ https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-pl...
ribeyes 7y ago
Also, banning plastic bags and straws has no positive impact on the environment. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-...
- greglindahl 7y ago
  "That said, these bans do reduce nonbiodegradable litter."
masonic 7y ago
Plastic produce bags are still free and are even better suited to human waste than non-sealable open grocery bags.

jquery 7y ago

Interesting theory, do you have any citations? It does sound plausible and seems to coincide with my experience in San Francisco (the problem did seem to get somewhat worse after the ban), but maybe that's coincidence or just my anecdotal experience.

jakear 7y ago
Food stamps recipients don’t pay the bag tax, which would make me less inclined to believe that theory. But I don’t know how many of these people are on EBT.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  People weren't just using their own bags, they were scavenging bags from the garbage (or the streets—discsrded single use bags were eveeywhere.) Banning designed-as single use bags (and encouraging reuse with a minimum charge per bag) greatly reduced the number of scavengable bags.

dragonwriter 7y ago

> It is a ban of plastic bags from supermarkets. It's a ban of free or single-use plastic bags from supermarkets; bags must be reusable (with specified strength standards for plastic bags), and there is a minimum charge.

gfodor 7y ago

holy cow this is a great theory. i haven't heard it before, and it would cut through a ton of noise if this could be supported by data. can it? the disappearance of readily available plastic bags (in the trash, floating around, etc) certainly would make way more sense as something that could suddenly have a huge impact than other theories which are stabbing in the dark at higher level variables that have trended slowly over time like shelter access or density of public restrooms. it would also explain why this problem is uniquely SF -- given the social signaling that is associated with a store being seen as environmentally conscious (by abandoning plastic bags) compared to other cities, it wouldn't surprise me if the rate and degree of abandonment of plastic bags outpaced other California cities. this certainly seems like the kind of thing that will bubble up to economics textbooks if true, a classic case of unintended consequences by tweaking incentives and regulations. i hope it gets more attention.

groundlogic 7y ago

Relevant: "Plastic-bag ban led to hep A health crisis?" https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-plastic-bag-ban-led-hep-health-crisis/ https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-pl...

ribeyes 7y ago

Also, banning plastic bags and straws has no positive impact on the environment. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-...

greglindahl 7y ago
"That said, these bans do reduce nonbiodegradable litter."

masonic 7y ago

Plastic produce bags are still free and are even better suited to human waste than non-sealable open grocery bags.