San Francisco News Blog

No 10-cent reward for you, Unknown Comic

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Mirkarimi did not take to the hallways chanting "Si se pudo," but it was an important move nevertheless. The supervisor -- who was instrumental behind the city's internationally lauded plastic bag ban -- has said on numerous occasions that he does not consider paper grocery bags to be a panacea. Unfortunately, the city's laws do -- customers cannot tote away their groceries here in plastic bags, so they are automatically shunted to environmentally destructive, landfill-clogging paper. While Mirkarimi's stated goal has always been to get folks to start bringing their own bags, there's nothing but altruism to make you do so right now.

So by proposing that large grocery stores and chain pharmacies be mandated to put a dime in the pocket of anyone with a reusable bag, the city would finally take a step toward its stated goal. Unfortunately, however, it has chosen to do so in a way that continues to preach to the choir instead of seeking -- or forcing -- converts.

Read the legislation here:

bag_rebate_ordinance-00586014.DOC

Earlier this year, we ran a cover story arguing that the city's plastic bag ban has done little for the environment and is based on questionable science. In the course of making scores of interviews for that story, Dick Lilly of Seattle Public Utilities told us that his department's studies concluded that a San Francisco-style plastic bag ban would be a net negative for the environment. And, regarding voluntary bag-reduction measures -- like the one Mirkarimi just proposed -- he said that his research showed that such moves had never decreased bag consumption by more than 5 percent.

We actually found an Australian voluntary campaign that allegedly registered better than 30 percent reductions -- but the fact is, placing fees on bags to be paid by customers rapidly resulted in bag use reductions of 90 percent or more. There's simply no comparison. Forcing the consumer to bring his or her own bags or pay for disposable bags has been proven to sharply reduce bag consumption again and again.

Mirkarimi hasn't yet returned our calls -- he is in the midst of Budget and Finance Committee today -- so we don't know why he opted to put the onus on the retailer rather than the consumer. But if we had to speculate, we'd go with the guess that most San Franciscans don't feel a twinge when government steps in and tells businesses how to behave and reward green-minded consumers with someone else's money. And consumers -- and lobbying groups -- would probably not be pleased by the notion of being made to pay for something that's now free. We've never suspected Mirkarimi of being disingenuous on this issue. Perhaps he figures this is the only way something will get done. 

The supervisor predicted that grocery lobbying organizations would fight his new measure tooth and nail. In this he may be right. While Tim James of the California Grocers Association would only give the formulaic answer of how he couldn't wait to "work with the supervisor" to help the city "reach its environmental goals," John Hanley of the California Independent Grocers Association wasted no time blasting the measure. "You're mandating a cost on retailers that shouldn't be mandated. [What's next?] Will they say you have to give customers a dollar if they wear eco-friendly sneakers into the store?" 

Joe Trimble is an expert on the grocery business -- seriously; if you ever needed someone to testify in court, such a thing exists -- and owns the Encinal Market in nearby Alameda. He said San Francisco's proposed measure shouldn't be too much of a burden on grocers. Each paper bag with handles he gives out costs him a dime, so he figures it more or less evens out. That's why, at his store, he already gives people a dime for every reusable bag they fill.

He's been doing this for nearly eight months, though -- and he isn't seeing new people bring in reusable bags. "The same people who were bringing their own bags before are still doing it. They're the people who really believe in it." Would he be handing out drastically fewer bags if he suddenly started charging a dime for them? "Oh God, yes."

Hey -- great for the folks who want to do right by the environment. But if environmentalists and government officials are serious about reducing bag consumption, they have to do more than reward the altruistic few who already get it. They have to change the culture -- as bag fees have done across Europe. If politicians can't explain to constituents why this is important enough to warrant a 60 cent increase in one's grocery bill or an investment in some reusable bags, then maybe they need to rethink their message.

The alternate route -- hitting up business owners and sparing consumers any burden whatsoever -- is a model that has never produced significant results. Never.

Update, 1:30 p.m. Ross Mirkarimi returned our call. He called his measure "an interim step" and not the final move in bag reduction. He said he was reticent to move toward a further fee or ban on paper bags prior to the results of an Environmental Impact Report being prepared at the behest of a number of California cities hoping to ban plastic bags and institute fees on paper ones; that EIR is due in 2010. Following the release of that study, "I believe you'll see quite a surge of cities do more than just have voluntary reductions of paper and plastic." 

Mirkarimi noted that, prior to San Francisco's plastic bag ban, the city had agreed with the California Grocers Association for a yearlong "voluntary reduction" in plastic bag use. Yet, in the midst of that yearlong experiment, the CGA lobbied Sacramento lawmakers to pass a statewide law forbidding municipalities from mandating plastic bag fees of the sort San Francisco had hoped to institute. It is still legal for cities to insist on paper bag fees, however -- but Mirkarimi said he believed that the CGA would "most likely" work to "subvert" this at the state level as well if he'd pushed a paper bag fee here.

"Many people were concerned there'd be a disproportionate reliance on paper after we banned plastic. We hear that," he said. "I'd like to take this in incrimental phases."

Full disclosure: Joe Trimble is a friend of the author.