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# Santa Monica Paper bags aren’t all that
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-paper-bags-arent-all-that-editor/
- Published: 2007-10-30T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:44:20.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Marilyn Brennan*

So the City Council wants to ban grocery stores, etc. from using plastic bags and instead use paper bags (“Up for grabs,” Oct. 12). Well, well, and where, pray tell, do paper bags come from? Oh, trees. We all know how expendable trees are to the City Council.

Paper bags may be more friendly to the environment, but they come from trees, which are in short supply, in spite of what the City Council thinks. Or they can always donate the trees they wish to cut down on Fourth and Second (streets) for the paper bags.

In all the world, isn’t there someone who can make biodegradable containers and bags available to grocery stores and restaurants? They make them for pet waste pick up.

Paper is also using up a valuable resource, especially when people don’t recycle. In my alley alone, I continually see large cardboard pieces and newspapers in the garbage containers where there is a blue recycle container nearby. They City Council would be better off forcing landlords and homeowners to use the recycle bins or be fined heavily. That would eliminate a lot of the problem.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 30, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/103007.pdf?ref=smdp.com)