Paper or paper at United

Customers at United Markets in San Anselmo and San Rafael won't have to worry about deciding paper or plastic anymore. The only choice at these stores is paper, thanks to President and owner Bill Daniels.

"Basically, it's the right thing to do," he said.

Though the county and state and both, currently, considering laws that would ban plastic bags, Daniels decided to go ahead and stop using plastic. The only paper policy went into effect in early July after the store ran through it's last order of plastic bags.

"I was going to wait for the state of California or the county of Marin, but I decided to do it on my own," said Daniels.

Plastic bags are considered an environmental problem, largely because they are not really recycleable and, instead, pollute the water and land. Ultimately, according to Californians Against Waste, the plastic breaks down and enters our food stream.

So, despite the large increase in cost – paper bags cost 10 cents a bag, while plastic bags cost just .5 cents a bag – Daniels felt it was the right environmental step to make. The change will cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.

At the San Anselmo store, last Friday, most of the customers either didn't notice or welcomed the change. Since baggers at the store don't ask the classic question – 'paper or plastic?' – anymore, most customers don't even think about it.

Of course, Daniels has had some complaints.

"We have some people that are unhappy with me," he said. Most of those people, he said, feel that they re-use the plastic bags for other things around the house.

But, United Markets – which opened the first supermarket in Marin in 1955 – has been around so long that Daniels remembers when they didn't use any kind of bags, but simply stuck a customer's groceries in the left over boxes that shipments came in.

"We didn't even have paper or plastic and we survived. Isn't that amazing," he said.

In 2002, Daniels came under similar criticism for discontinuing the sale of cigarettes at his two Marin stores, but he feels he has to do what he thinks is right.

The County Board of Supervisors is considering an ordinance to ban plastic bags and charge a fee for paper ones, but is waiting to see what happens with a bill being considered by the state legislature to ban plastic bags in California.

The best option, though, and one that United has signs encouraging is for customers to bring their own reusable bags.