The heat is on to cut back on the 100 billion plastic bags we use each year

by By Marni Pyke | Daily Herald Staff

When it comes to plastic bags, the answer is not blowing in the wind. The problem is blowing in the wind, environmental advocates say.

Clogging sewers, harming wildlife, hogging space in landfills, using up fossil fuels and littering the landscape, the ubiquitous totes have no shortage of critics. But recently, the chorus of disapproval has started moving from words to action.

"They're a product we really don't need," said Mark Westlund, a spokesman for San Francisco's environmental department. "We didn't use them before the mid-1970s and people got along just fine without."

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