It's a Bird; it's a plane! No, it's a flying plastic bag!

HUNTINGTON, WV - There are litterally (pun intended) hundreds of those small plastic bags, which almost all retail stores in our area use for customer-carry-out, flying all over Huntington's business and residential neighborhoods! As usual, the west coast cities always seem to be the most progressive in dealing with community issues. Here is the latest action from California. Read on:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — City leaders approved a ban on plastic grocery bags after weeks of lobbying on both sides from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group. If Mayor Gavin Newsom signs the ban as expected, San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule. The law, passed by a 10-1 vote, requires large markets and drug stores to give customers only a choice among bags made of paper that can be recycled, plastic that breaks down easily enough to be made into compost, or re-usable cloth.

San Francisco supervisors and supporters said that by banning the petroleum-based sacks, blamed for littering streets and choking marine life, the measure would go a long way toward helping the city earn its green stripes. "Hopefully, other cities and states will follow suit," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who crafted the ban after trying to get a 15-cent per bag tax passed in 2005. The 50 grocery stores that would be most affected by the law argued that the ban was not reasonable because plastic bags made of corn byproducts are a relatively new, expensive and untested product. Some said they might offer only paper bags at checkout.

We hope that our local Huntington and Cabell County office-holders will take note and consider the damage done by these bags to our city's image and environment.

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