Could Portland follow San Francisco's big ban on plastic bags?

Today San Francisco became the first US city to ban the use of plastic grocery bags due to a number of environmental factors. Lightweight plastic bags increase litter, block sewage systems, cannot be recycled into new bags and use a significant amount of petroleum to manufacture. Grocery stores have six months to switch to paper bags, reusable bags or compostable plastic bags. Of course the stores are not happy about it because of increased costs, which they say will be passed along to the consumer.

A few months ago I posted about the "paper v. plastic" dilemma, and the info I found (here, here and here) surprisingly was in favor of plastic by a slim margin (well, really, bringing your own reusable bag is the most environmentally responsible choice). The production and recycling of paper bags require significantly more energy and chemicals, though they are more likely to be recycled than plastic bags and are not made with petroleum. So I guess, while it is admirable that SF is taking a stance, I'm not sure they are really making a substantial environmental decision.

What if there was a ban on all single-use bags -- paper and plastic? What if stores started following IKEA's example and start charging customers for using single-use bags? In the UK, bag usage at IKEA dropped by 95%. I still have a hard time remembering to bring my cloth bags into the grocery store, even though I now keep them in my car. But if I knew I was going to be charged for a paper or plastic bag? I think I'd start remembering pronto, and after awhile it would become a habit. What about you? Could you completely give up paper and plastic bags in favor of reusable ones?