A small little blurb showed up in the Dispatch this morning about Whole Foods phasing out plastic bags at all of its 220+ stores by Earth Day on April 22, 2008. There is only one WF in Columbus (Dublin-Granville) so while the impact in the region may not be dramatic it is a start. WF is a trend setter and hopefully other supermarket chains will voluntarily phase out plastic bags to keep pace with this juggernaut of a grocery store. However, since plastic bags are typically 3 cents cheaper than paper and the grocery market produces very thin profit margins it is doubtful that they will find goodwill in their hearts on their own. Some states including California have begun to require stores recycle plastic bags and San Francisco has gone one stEp further by banning plastic bags with some exceptions. My home town, San Luis Obispo, CA is also considering a city-wide ban.
Mayor Coleman continually talks up his Get Green initiative but I have seen no mention of a similar program. Once again Columbus is a follower instead of a leader. Maybe his campaign should just be renamed Get Green When Convenient.
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