The question “paper or plastic?” may become a thing of the past if Assembly Bill 1998 passes in 2012.

The bill would ban single-use plastic bags in all California grocery stores, and customers would have to buy their own reusable bags, or pay a nickel each for recycled paper bags.

The first of two great outcomes with the passing of the bill is it is environmentally friendly. People’s responsibility now is to protect the environment for future generations.

However, it requires some education on how using huge numbers of plastic bags affects the environment.

Also, if people use fewer bags every day, the city of Santa Barbara does not have to pay so much to recycle them. Therefore, they will not have to charge consumers tax.

Recycling costs a lot. That is the reason why San Francisco has already banned plastic bags.

San Francisco banned plastic bags in March of 2007 and was the first city in California to do so. More than three years since then, the city of Santa Barbara seems almost ready for the action as well.

Many consumers already bring their own reusable bags to stores these days, like the green bags that have recycling symbols, and the ones look like Trader Joe’s paper bags. According to a Daily Sound article “Santa Barbara shoppers support plastic bag ban,” people in Santa Barbara are for the bill.

According to the article, the Santa Barbara City Council is supporting the bill. The day when this community says no to single-use bags may come soon.

Santa Barbara’s population is approximately 90,000. If every person in this community stops using single-use bags when they shop, the impact will be huge.

Just like those who use their own reusable bags, there are some people at City College who use reusable to-go food containers.

Santa Barbara consumers are already becoming friendly to the environment and getting ready for the bill.

People say the law would help them remember to bring their bags to stores when they shop. Those who forget their bags will face a more expensive dinner.

Even though the plastic bags we see today are a lot thinner than they used to be and are partially perceived as environmentally friendly, they’re certainly worse than no use of them at all.

People may say that they reuse the bags as their trash bags, or for some other use, when the law bans them in 2012, they will have to pay for those bags unfortunately.

Be ready unless you want to carry all your groceries in your hands, or pay for the bags every time you go shopping.