Remember when California banned single-use plastic bags in an attempt to reduce pollution, only to allow stores to sell thicker plastic bags?
We all knew that meant we’d be throwing away thicker plastic bags rather than reusing them, right? Well, it’s true.
A month ago, State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, who was working on tightening a loophole in the law, shared that since the implementation of the ban, Californians threw away 44 percent more tons of plastic bags per 1,000 people than before the ban (before the thicker bags). She has since successfully introduced a new ban on plastic bags.
Deborah Brennan spoke to Blakespear about the new law for her Sacramento Report.
Another fascinating stat: Blakespear keeps dropping chisme. She told Brennan that Covid really hurt our efforts to stop using — and throwing away — plastic bags.
“… many shoppers made the switch to durable bags made of woven material, Blakespear noted. That is, until the pandemic sparked health fears about the potential to spread the virus through reusable bags. Plastic bag waste dropped slightly from 157,395 tons in 2014 to 139,810 in 2018, but then rocketed up to 231,072 tons in 2021, a report by the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG found,” Brennan wrote.
“I remember when the first plastic bag ban was passed, and I was a mayor at the time and thought that was great,” Blakespear told Brennan. “Then COVID hit, and the effort to have people bring reusable bags faltered.”
What Parents Want to Know
“What’s a school district?” “Is there someone who can help me understand what letter grades mean?” “What is the difference between a private and a public school?”
Those are just a handful of questions I got from a group of parents in the Chollas Creek neighborhood on Tuesday. I was there with our education reporter, Jakob McWhinney, to discuss our “A Parent’s Guide to San Diego Schools.” That’s the magazine we publish every year with data and information to help parents navigate our education system.
The parents we met with spoke English, Spanish and Creole. They were eager to understand why test scores were low in their neighborhood school and what that could mean for their child’s future.
One woman told me she wants to move her son to a different school, but his friends are at the one he attends now. She wasn’t sure what to do.
Another woman was considering moving her child out of the district, but she felt overwhelmed by the options and process involved in such transfers.
It’s shocking how little support parents have when it comes to schools. The system can feel so overwhelming, I know it was for my Spanish-speaking mom. If you have your own questions, join us at our next event.
You can download the schools guide here.
More Chisme to Start Your Week
- The San Diego Police Officers Association has endorsed Mayor Todd Gloria in his re-election campaign. That’s a big deal because one of their own is running against Gloria. The union explained that they didn’t like some of the things Larry Turner told our Scott Lewis on a podcast episode. Read more here.
- Our Tigist Layne has written a lot about Escondido’s budget woes. She’s got a new story about the sales tax increase city leaders hope voters will pass this November. Read the full story here.
- Related: If you already got your ballot in the mail, but you need help making sense of the many races and measures, we got you. Head to our elections stakes page.
If you have any feedback for this newsletter, send me a note at andrea.lopez@voiceofsandiego.org.