San Francisco 1, Plastic Bags 0

Thanks to a tip from Outside Magazine, I recently subscribed to Daily Grist, an eco-news summary that comes out, yep, daily. As a lifelong trash-hater and recycling fanatic, I literally squealed with delight when I read one of the headlines on Wednesday: "San Francisco approves first-in-nation ban on non-recyclable plastic bags." San Francisco businesses alone hand out 180 million of these puppies each year, so you can imagine what the world wide usage is like...the good news is that bans are also in place in South Africa, Bangladesh, Taiwan, and Paris. Next up, Baltimore or Washington DC?

I tried to think back on how I ended up with such a distaste for disposable things like plastic bags and styrofoam cups. I do remember watching my mom doing laundry at a young age and cutting every dryer sheet in half, loudly exclaiming that each load of laundry does NOT need an entire dryer sheet and she would NOT get suckered into buying more of a product than necessary. Stick it to the man mom (those Peace Corps habits die hard). I adopted her philosophy and began re-using my brown school lunch bags (because using a lunch box was way uncool in middle school)...each day after lunch carefully folding it up and putting it in my pocket to take home and pack with lunch for the next day. Only when they bags were stained and literally falling apart did they get thrown in the trash.

In college I got many questioning looks when I told people I was majoring in economics and environmental studies. "But don't those two, like, not go together?" Of course they do! Businesses use resources, resources cost money, and if they can cut their resource use while delivering the same product, they will, ta da, make more profits. Or, if my mom can cut dryer sheets in half and use fewer boxes, she's buying less and going easy on the environment. Each plastic bag grocery stores hand out in San Francisco costs them money and they then provide this product for free to customers and it likely ends up in the trash. They should be thanking the San Fran government for helping them stop literally throwing money away!

My other rant on this subject is the disposable coffee cup-- namely Starbucks since you see the most of those around (in the trash, gutters, sidewalks, everywhere). On a long training run through DC I stopped counting the number of cups I saw people carrying around, and it wasn't even the morning coffee rush! Now I spend a good part of running time dreaming up schemes to get Starbucks to stop using so many cups. Allegedly they do have non-disposable cups for use in the store (though I've never seen one handed out) and they also have a measly 10 cent discount if you bring your own mug (though many cashiers aren't aware of the rule). My best idea at the moment is a sticker with barcode you put on your own mug that lets you accumulate points each time you bring it in, and after a certain number of drinks purchased you get a free one. I know, I know, a store with a highly addictive product does not need a reward system, but consumers need more than 10 cents to overcome the laziness hump and bring their own cup-- and a free drink on the fifth day (free coffee Fridays?) just might do it.

Last, while I've been dreaming up ridiculous coffee mug schemes and feeling like the only person in America who squirms at the thought of trashing a Starbucks cup, I found Bring Your Own, a great resource with both website and blog. At least I'm not the only one dragging a ten year old mug around everywhere I go-- and after surviving the Boundary Waters tornado of '99 together, I think the mug and I have a few more years left in us!