Surcharge on Plastic Grocery Bags Worth Considering

"We have a responsibility to promote a healthy and sustainable environment, and by doing that, it means we need to help change people's patterns, and that even means their shopping patterns," said Ross Mirkarimi, who will take office in January. "This is a sensible user fee."

According to the Department of the Environment, consumers lug home about 50 million bags from San Francisco grocery stores each year. Of those, 90 percent are nonrecyclable plastic.

A report prepared in support of the proposal by Robert Haley, recycling program manager for the environment department, says plastic bags gum up recycling and composting machines at Norcal -- San Francisco's waste management provider -- resulting in $1 million in extra costs and lost revenue from the sale of recyclable materials.

The bags account for 2 percent of the city's total "waste stream," and picking up and disposing littered bags cost an additional $7.4 million annually, according to the report.

It notes that an estimated 12 million barrels of oil go into the production of plastic bags, while 14 million trees are felled to make their paper counterparts.