Politics Meddling with Markets
I just read an article that describes how officials in San Francisco recently voted to ban plastic shopping bags.
It is another classic case of elected officials working to impose what they think is best on their constituents. Would an incentive to return shopping bags or use cloth bags have been better? Or does SF really need to wage a "war" on plastic bags?
It is another classic case of elected officials working to impose what they think is best on their constituents. Would an incentive to return shopping bags or use cloth bags have been better? Or does SF really need to wage a "war" on plastic bags?
posted by Deidra at 8:32 PM
1 Comments:
I heard this on NPR yesterday. SF will allow shoppers the option of paper, cloth, or "eco-friendly" plastic bags. These "eco-friendly" bags are manufactured using corn based products.
The frustrating part of this policy is that the technology for manufacturing these corn-plastic bags is new, expensive, and largely unpredictable.
Store owners say that they will no longer give shoppers a bag option - they all get paper.
This type of regulation is somewhat like the Logan city council voting not to get power from the plant, but holding out for largely uncertain technologies that are expensive and unproven.
Really my issue with this policy is paper bags have no handles.
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