Annapolis, MD stands next in line to ban the use of plastic bags from all retail stores. The bill, which goes to a final City Council vote in October, 2007, is aimed at protecting marine life in, and around, Chesapeake Bay.

San Francisco enacted a plastic bag ban in April that applies to larger grocery stores and drug stores. Boston; Baltimore; Oakland, CA; Portland, OR; Santa Monica, CA; and Steamboat Springs, CO are also considering similar measures.

Plastic takes more than 1,000 years to biodegrade, and 100 billion plastic bags are manufactured each year. Considering the fact that, nationally, only one percent of all plastic bags get recycled, that’s an awful lot of plastic bags laying around in landfills. Not to mention collecting in the ever-growing “Eastern Garbage Patch”--a plastic stew that floats around in the Pacific Ocean.

Critics say paper bags are bulkier and therefore require more trucks and fuel to transport, creating even more pollution. But, making 100 billion plastic bags uses up 12 million barrels of oil, whereas no oil is used to produce recycled paper bags.

I’m very glad to see more regions taking action to limit this excessive use of plastic bags. In the end, the most economical and environment-friendly option is to use reusable cloth bags for all your shopping, which cuts out both the oil consumption for manufacturing of the plastic bags, and the increased air pollution from transporting paper ones.