Pet Peeve #12
Q: Paper or plastic?
A: None of the above. There are laws in California, you know.
Q: Recycled brown paper or recycled white plastic?
A: None of the above. There are laws in California, you know.
Q: White paper, styrofoam, plastic zippies and trash bags?
A: All of the above. There are no laws in California, you know.
Hiding Behind a Phony Badge
I live in this town, I work here and I like it.
Let’s understand each other from the get-go on a few things:
- I recycle
- I am aware of the implications of plastic bag usage on the “environment”
- I am aware of the implications of not recycling on the “environment”
- I am accepting of the ban on single-use plastic bags in the retail environment
- I am not accepting of replacing these single-use plastic bags with “heavier plastic”
- Nor am I accepting of failure to ban all single-use plastic in all environments:
plastic bottle caps; plastic food wrappers and packaging; plastic lids, cups and straws; plastic spoons, forks, knives, sporks, splayds; plastic shampoo bottles; and plastic water bottles
The Mediocrity of Senate Bill (SB) No. 270, Filed September 30, 2014
mediocre, adjective, of only moderate quality, not very good
Although SB 270 bans the use of even recycled plastic and paper bags, it approves the use of “heavier plastic bags,” a term yet to be defined.
SB 270 also legislates a minimum tax of 10 cents per bag at time of checkout at supermarket, grocery outlets and pharmacies to be borne by the consumer, the same consumer bombarded by “save the trees” propaganda advocating the use of plastic bags in the first place. So, consumer, BYOB.
The New Deal, 2014 Governor Brown Style
Enter the California Grocers Association and the United Food and Commercial Workers Labor Union.
The Grocers profit from pocketing the entire amount of the tax charged at the checkout counter.
The Union profits since the monies currently spent by the grocers on plastic bags, will now be applied to “worker training and food-safety initiatives.”
Do let’s not even consider any campaign contributions, thereof. That would be wrong. Right? Wrong. On both accounts.
Governor Brown, that’s what I call a Phony Badge
What’s next?
