Bag it.
That’s our advice for Supervisor Don Gage and the rest of the
board when it comes to the proposal for a 25-cent fee on every
grocery bag, paper or plastic, used by a consumer.
1. Taxing every grocery bag an old-school approach to the issue
Bag it.
That’s our advice for Supervisor Don Gage and the rest of the board when it comes to the proposal for a 25-cent fee on every grocery bag, paper or plastic, used by a consumer.
It’s a simplistic approach to a problem that simply won’t work. What’s needed is a change in consumer behavior, and this old-school government dictum approach isn’t the solution.
Instead of creating a new “Grocery Bag Czar” to oversee enforcement, the county should work with the cities and the grocery stores on an education and incentive program. How about, for example, a widely advertised “Green Week” at grocery stores countywide where canvas bags are sold for just 25 cents. Now that’s a much more productive and positive approach to the problem.
2. What’s needed is a concerted effort to educate and incentivize
Furthermore, there needs to be more education. Gilroy City Councilman Dion Bracco hit the nail on the head when he said that he didn’t believe residents were aware that plastic grocery bags can be put in the curbside recycling bins. That kind of message needs to be repeated and repeated across different mediums in order to become ingrained in the population. And it isn’t going to happen overnight.
If the proposal, which has now been tabled until February, gets by the Board of Supervisors and ends up in the City Council’s lap, an alternative approach would be our recommendation, a proposal that includes incentives and education.
3. More government and a new fee – just what we need in a recession
Besides being an ineffective dictatorial approach, it simply doesn’t make sense to start charging customers 25 cents per bag in the midst of a serious recession. What’s next, an additional 25 cents for the bag with your food in it at Taco Bell? That’s how a new government bureaucracy is born.
Meanwhile, those nasty bags will still be littering the county. Let’s take a positive approach toward changing people’s habits before resorting to outdated government programs that simply don’t solve the root problem which end up costing the taxpayers beaucoup bucks.
