Banning plastic bags because they are not biodegradable isn’t a good enough of a reason to ban them.

Regardless of what resources we have, or because not banning them will have a negative effect on our environment, people will still continue to abuse the environment in different ways.

Some people use plastic bags to clean up after their dogs when walking them in neighborhoods and public parks. We could lessen the use of plastic bags, but to ban them doesn’t make any sense.

Though cloth bags are environmentally friendly, we still need plastic bags.

We can’t use cloth bags as trash bags because some trash contains liquids that will seep through the bag and some people use plastic bags as lining for trash bins in their home.

If we have to use cloth bags every time we walk our dogs or go shopping, we would have to spend money on these bags.

It defeats the purpose of shopping at a grocery store; we are already paying for groceries so we shouldn’t have to buy bags.

But, Ikea is charging 5 cents per plastic bag and San Francisco proposed a law forcing customers to use recyclable paper, cloth or plastic bags. Violators are to pay a $500 fine if they don’t comply with the law, according to the mayor of San Francisco.

Decreasing the use of plastic bags makes a lot sense, but to completely ban them is way too irrational. It is, however, a good idea to have cloth bags as an alternative.

Consumers should decide if they want to recycle and help the environment by using recyclable bags.

However, the government should not force them to pay money to use special bags.