By Katherine Howard
The San Francisco Chronicle recently highlighted the enormous damage that plastic bags inflict on the environment in front-page articles and even an editorial (“Trashing plastics,” May 30, 2019). The newspaper's own policy is, "The Chronicle is delivered in a recyclable plastic bag during inclement weather or by specific request. To opt out of having your paper bagged, please call (415) 777-7000 or (800) 281-2476."
Despite this policy, in at least one San Francisco neighborhood the SF Chronicle is delivered in a plastic bag — every day, rain or shine. If this policy is followed for all deliveries, with a daily circulation of over 160,000 copies (and 222,000 on Sundays), the Chronicle could be contributing roughly 62,000,000 plastic bags to the waste stream every year.
Over the years, I have had little luck in persuading the Chronicle to deliver my own newspaper without a plastic bag. I have called the recommended phone number many times, then escalated to talking to the people actually involved in the delivery process. I worked my way up the ladder from the Local Delivery Person to the Area Supervisor and on up to the Regional Manager. In most cases I received a call back and a promise to ditch the bags. Then a few days or weeks later the bags would be back.
The Chronicle also suggests emailing them about subscription problems. So I corresponded with five different, pleasant people at homedelivery@sfchronicle.com, all of whom promised to remedy the plastic bag situation — with no long-term effect. Meanwhile, articles against plastic bags continued to be run in the paper's pages.
In discussing this at meetings of the Sierra Club's San Francisco Group I found that others have experienced the same problem. As a result we sent a letter to the Chronicle publisher, the editor in chief, and the editorial page editor (from whence came the editorial against single-use plastic bags). Our letter applauded the editorial and suggested that newspapers be delivered without a bag, unless it is raining, and, if a bag is absolutely necessary due to weather or other issues, a 100% plant-based compostable bag should be used. As of the date of this writing, we have received no response.
As stated in the Chronicle's own editorial, "Plastics are convenient and cheap, but they’re made of a nightmare material that essentially never degrades." So we are asking all of you: please contact the Chronicle and ask that they do away with the plastic bags. Here's that number again: (415) 777 - 7000. Or, email them at homedelivery@sfchronicle.com.
Let us know your results!
Katherine Howard is a member of the Conservation and Executive Committees of the Sierra Club's San Francisco Group.
Photo by Alces Images.