N.Y. passes law requiring plastic bag recycling programs

Sorry to keep posting about plastic bags, but it appears to be a hot topic. Just today, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill which, among other things, requires large retail stores to implement plastic bag recycling programs and reduce the number of plastic bags given to customers. This new law follows the lead of other cities who are attempting to reduce plastic bag usage. At the head of the pack is San Francisco, who, in April of last year, became the first city to altogether ban the use of plastic grocery bags. I commend these cities for taking the lead in what will hopefully someday be a universally accepted idea - NO MORE PLASTIC GROCERY BAGS! I predict that in 10 years (hopefully less), plastic grocery bags will be obsolete and we'll look back and wonder what took us so long to stop using those silly, harmful things. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but we're getting there.

This article is also a good one on the topic. I like this quote characterizing the root of the current plastic bag crisis: "The mentality in America is plastic bags come from plastic bag land," said Mastny, of the Worldwatch Institute. "We don't think about where they come from and where they are going."