While the economy-crushing coronavirus shutdowns are wreaking havoc in just about every industry, the plastic industry is seeing, at least temporarily, one “win”: A growing number of liberal cities and states that have imposed bans or fees on single-use plastic bags are reversing their policies amid concerns about the health risks posed by reusable bags.
“In the latest sign of how dramatically the coronavirus pandemic is altering the social landscape, even the liberal San Francisco Bay Area this week banned reusable grocery bags as a sanitary measure, dismaying recycling advocates who say durable sacks should still be allowed at stores,” Politico reported earlier this week.
The famously radical-left city’s Department of Public Health announced the temporary reversal of its 2007 plastic bag ban on Tuesday as part of an update to its coronavirus “stay-at-home” order. The new ordinance restricts customers from bringing into stores their own reusable items, like bags and mugs.
As usual, San Francisco is leading the way in terms of severity of its ban effort, imposing what Politico’s Debra Kahn describes as “the most stringent coronavirus-related restriction placed on reusable bags in California.”
“[F]aced with the realities of the coronavirus, the city’s leaders have realized that excessive environmentalism isn’t always compatible with the realities of the world we live in today,” Hot Air’s Jazz Shaw writes. “As such, the ban has been not only lifted but reversed. Reusable bags are now banned in the City by the Bay.” – READ MORE
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