SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif- The ban on plastic bags in San Luis Obispo County is quickly approaching. On October 1st, the old saying you hear at grocery stores "paper or plastic" will be no more. Instead it will be "did you bring your own bag? Or, are your going to pay 10 cents for a paper one?" One group is aiming to stop the ban dead in its tracks.
Stores like Avila Valley Barn are already warning customers of the switch. "We posted signs at all the registers so that people will have that information way ahead of time," said Assistant Manager, Shellie Phildin. Their customers are getting ready as well. "I've started consciously collecting them," said Lala Karapetian, who is for the ban.
The store uses close to 1-thousand plastic bags a week. Environmentalists say getting rid of plastic will reduces pollution and litter that eventually gets back to oceans. "I think its our generations responsibility to finally do something about all the pollution that we are causing to our earth," says Karapetian.
Soon like other counties on the central coast that have already adopted the ban, shoppers will have to pay 10-cents for a paper bag or bring a re-usable bag. Groups like "save the plastic bag coalition" contend that paper bags take up twice as much room as plastic bags in landfills and over 40-percent of plastic bags are re-used as bin liners.
Some customers aren't too happy about the ban. "It would make me think twice about shopping in the San Luis Obispo area if I have to go through the thought process of paper plastic, did I remember my bag, do I want to throw the 10 cents into it, I'll keep going and go somewhere I don't have to think about it," says Dan Shepard, who is against the ban.
The decision on whether to allow the plastic bag ban is expected sometime next week. In the meantime, the county has ordered several thousand reusable bags to distribute for free through the department of social services, and stores such as target will be initially giving out reusable bags for free as well.
