Paper or plastic? It looks like people will still be hearing that line for a while.

A bill that would have banned single-use plastic bags would have given grocery baggers the opportunity to find a new line to start off conversations with their customers.  Unfortunately, the bill that would have provided them with that new found freedom, AB 1998, failed to pass by the California state Senate.  

This bill, had it passed, would have created a statewide ban on the providing of free plastic bags to its customers, and instead provide the option for customers to pay a small fee for paper bags or use reusable bags. It seemed that recently the Golden State was beginning to embrace the green, as several other cities and counties across California were passing their own bans on the usage of single-use plastic bags.But it appears this movement is nowhere near getting on the fast track.  

Had the bill passed, California would have been the first state in the country to pass such a law, following the example of San Francisco, which, in 2007, was the first city nationwide to pass the plastic bag ban.  As one of the leaders in environmental sustainability, it seems only fitting for such a law to be passed.  

According to Care2.com, a social networking website that connects activists who fight for similar causes, Californians alone dispose of 19 billion plastic bags each year.  It seems that even China has moved quite a large distance ahead of many countries including the United States. So why this sudden loss of momentum toward a greener future? The American Chemistry Council. It seems that those trying to conquer the plastic mayhem, the crusaders of this mission, namely Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, the author of the bill, and its supporters such as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dan Jacobson, legislative director of Environment California and the California Grocer’s Association were immediately labeled by the ACC as the “bag police,” as made clear by their website at the end of every campaign video, www.stopthebagpolice.com.

The ACC also continually pointed out that the state has bigger problems than how Californians bag their groceries, and that politicians are wasting the taxpayer money by spending their time on plastic bag banning regulations when they should be focusing on the budget deficit.  

ACC lobbyists also did not hesitate to feed off of people’s “sympathy for unemployment” and “concern for education,” claiming that thousands of manufacturing jobs would be lost as well as classrooms suffering.  Unfortunately for the environment, the fear of unemployment and a lack in education is higher up on the social problems hierarchy.