San Jose Bag Ban Doesn’t Make a Dent in Litter

Despite a bag ban for two years in the City of San Jose, litter is still a prevalent problem.  While it is true, fewer retail store plastic carryout bags are observed, litter and unregulated plastic bags is still a very visible problem.  On the website: http://js-politicsandburacracy.blogspot.com/2013/12/san-jose-bag-ban-almost-two-years-later.html one San Jose resident posted photos of litter in San Jose.  This is worthwhile seeing if you think that a plastic carryout bag ban will reduce litter in your area.

Here are two videos of litter in San Jose.  The first is from Tully Road East to Coyote Creek and the second is from Coyote Creek Trailhead Tully Road to Stonegate.

In neighboring Campbell, in which the bag ban will not go into effect until 27 January 2014, there is virtually no plastic bag litter and very little litter.  Photos are shown in the following article: http://js-politicsandburacracy.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

This video is taken in Campbell, CA.  Campbell Park and Los Gatos Creek Trail Southbound to San Thomas Expressway.  The entire route is virtually trash free.

This video is taken in Santa Clara, from Scott Blvd southbound to El Camino Real eastbound to Lafayette Street.  This video is proof that Santa Clara despite allowing plastic carryout bags and polystyrene food ware to be used without restriction hardly has any litter and it is nearly impossible to find a improperly disposed of Styrofoam food container let alone a grocery or shopping bag.  In fact not a single plastic shopping  bag was seen floating around in “city” controlled areas.

In contrast, San Jose, despite a two year ban on plastic carryout bags, its streets are just as littered as before the bag ban if not more so.

The fact is that imposing a bag ban to eliminate less than 0.6% of litter is a waste of money and effort, not only the costs incurred by the city but also the millions of dollars that residents must spend to comply with the bag ban.

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2 thoughts on “San Jose Bag Ban Doesn’t Make a Dent in Litter

  1. The bag ban and fee anger many ordinary folks, me included.

    I used to recycle food scrap using the small paper bags from Walgreens. since I am not going to pay 10c for a bag, these days I just trashed them. I used to feel guilty in the earlier months, but I grew used to it.

    A neighbor was even madder. Instead of leaving all the recyclable materials in the blue bins, he trashed the recyclables consisting of half a dozen of paper bags and boxes and placed them in the trash bin.

    So the greenies should congratulations themselves, they may have gained ground in some 80 cities and counties in California, but they did not see how a large segment of the public is no longer cooperating and resisting instead. Do not donate to environmental non-profits. Support market-based solutions such as Washington Policy Center and Cascade Policy Institute.

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