Monday, January 7th, 2008
Plastic Bags
Today Mayor Reed, Councilmember Campos and I submitted a Memo to the City’s Rules Committee for them to consider banning the use of non-recyclable plastic bags in San Jose. These bags are a bane on the community and the environment. Not only does the production of these bags create massive amounts of carbon dioxide, but the amount of oil and petroleum used to produce them are also staggering. In addition, these bags drift throughout our community, littering our streets, and eventually make their way to the bay through our own drainage systems; polluting our oceans and our food supply. These bags are not durable, sensible or environmentally friendly.
We have all seen these bags blowing in the wind or on the side of our roads and highways and we recognize that they are an eyesore and a problem. I experienced this first hand while picking up litter in Alviso last October. This ban would be part of the solution, but not all of it. Some of the responsibility rests on you and I. To be environmentally friendly, instead of taking a paper or plastic bag, bring your own permanent bag. Many stores already offer durable canvas or other bags that you can reuse each time you get groceries. Working together, we can make San José an environmentally sound city.
A copy of the Memo can be found here.
Kansen
