Would you like a bag for that?”
“Yes.”
Sigh.

 
As a cashier at a retail store that still uses plastic bags, I ask this to be considerate. You’re supposed to say no. You don’t need a bag. And with the threat of the plastic bag ban looming over our heads, Sonoma County residents are finally being forced to reconsider their answer.

 
Effective March 21, 2014, the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency banned the issuance of plastic bags, and a 10-cent fee is now imposed on paper bags. Enforcement doesn’t begin until Sept. 1, giving stores time to deplete their remaining plastic bag inventory.

 
According to the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency, California used an estimated 18.2 billion plastic bags in 2008. In Sonoma County alone, we use enough bags each year to wrap around the Earth’s equator 2.12 times. And the EPA estimated there is only a 9.8 percent recovery rate for these bags, which means that 90.2 percent of them are wrapping themselves around Earth in some way or another.

 
The closer it gets to Sept. 1, the more customers I get who answer my question with, “No, I have a bag,” or, “It’s OK, I’ll just carry it.” I always thank them whole-heartedly.

 
But then there are those customers who ask if they have to start paying for them yet. When I respond no, they ask for their stuff to be double bagged. They then carry these items without using the handles anyway.

 
And I growl at them. Internally, of course.

 
In all fairness, reusable bags have some health concerns. Many reusable bag users don’t have a dedicated meat or vegetable bag, and the majority of bag users admit that they never wash their bags, though they leave them in the heat of the trunk, baking in all of that residue. However, there is a simple solution: wash your bags.

 
Additionally, for health reasons, the plastic bag ban does not include plastic bags without handles, like the ones used to hold produce or meat at the grocery store. Bags that separate food that could contaminate merchandise or other food are exempt. So keep your apples in that produce bag, and wrap your meat in plastic before you stuff them into a reusable bag.

 
Furthermore, studies have shown reusable bags are not actually used enough to justify the banning of plastic bags. According to the U.K.’s Environment Agency, a cloth bag has to be used 104 times before its environmental performance surpasses that of a plastic bag. However, on average, cloth bags are only used 51 times. When retired, the cloth bags are harder to recycle, because they are made from multiple materials, unlike plastic bags.

 
But plastic bags are flimsy and thin. The dullest corner on a piece of merchandise will pierce the bag. When cashiering, I can stuff only about three pairs of jeans into one bag before I have to start another. And forget about putting anything over a few ounces in there, a bottle of lotion is enough to break the handles. So what use is a plastic bag at all, if it cannot successfully make it through one use? I can stuff those reusable bags to bursting and they’ll hold. One reusable bag saves several plastic bags in one use alone.

 
A large part of plastic pollution is because the bags are so light and flimsy, they get easily blown around, and they tangle around recycling equipment, making the recycling process tedious. Paper bags and canvas bags are denser, sturdier and fold easily, making them less susceptible to catching an impromptu ride on the next breeze.
Would you still like a bag for that?