Councilman Dion Bracco has made a good point, but banning the
plastic bags in town may not be necessary to accomplish a
worthy
‘eco-goal’
City Councilman Dion Bracco is on the right track. Doing away with plastic bags at the grocery store would be wonderful. The things are a litter nuisance and a hazard to wildlife.

“If you drive around you see those bags. They’re everywhere,” Bracco said. “They’re blowing in the street. They’re in bushes, and I guess they don’t decay in the landfill.”

The sentiment is understandable, but banning the bags in Gilroy goes too far. Better we educate the consumer and work through the marketplace to rid the stores of these petroleum-based eyesores.

Correspondence from City Hall to all the area grocery store managers asking for signage and voluntary cooperation could help solve the problem. Many shoppers already go out of their way and purchase reusable tote bags at the stores. Educating consumers to understand that paper bags are far more friendly to the environment is the key to making the cheaper bags disappear.

Perhaps a guest column in the newspaper from the city’s Environmental Program Coordinator Lisa Jensema (yes, we’re offering) coupled with notices in city bills would help turn the tide against the plastic scourge.

A new state law requires grocery stores to adopt more ecofriendly practices beginning this month reported our staff writer, Serdar Tumgoren. Stores with more than $2 million in annual sales or measuring 10,000 square feet or more are required to offer recycling bins for plastic bags and to sell reusable “tote” bags. Perhaps the store managers will be open to going a few steps further.

On a personal level, the best option is to purchase a few of the tote bags and re-use them When you forget, request paper – and don’t forget to sneer at anyone who’s getting a plastic bag. That’s tongue-in-cheek, of course. But the point is that education and the pressure to take responsible actions that invariably accompany such education are the best way to deal with this challenge.

Mr. Bracco should be commended for elevating the conversation and bringing it home to our city, but this problem can hopefully be solved without the heavy hand of government and yet another new law.

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