The ubiquitous plastic grocery bag that pollutes and clutters the big city is simple to get rid of. San Francisco all but removed plastic from the scene with a series of measures to steer consumers toward usage of their own reusable bags. Many jurisdictions out west followed suit and now the entire state of California has banned use of the plastic bag for most retail transactions.

A modest effort here in New York City to curtail use of the plastic bag is getting opposition from unexpected forces. When the New York City Council’s Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management conducting a hearing on the subject last week, I was shocked to learn that Teamsters Local 237 has lined up squarely against a ten-cent fee on the plastic bag. Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd made a laughably self-serving statement in support of the polluted status quo. Said Floyd: “We believe this legislation would lead to irreparable harm to the unionized plastic bag manufacturing industry in New York City in favor of reusable bags that are made overseas.”

Even some of the most liberal council members are framing the dime per bag fee as somehow regressive and injurious to the low income consumer. Mayor Bill de Blasio and council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito are both failing to openly support the bag fee. Under the measure, retailers would collect and keep the fee which would dissuade consumers from using plastic. It’s not an outright ban. It’s a surcharge to shift behavior. The regressive tax argument (including the disappointing position taken by liberal lion Bertha Lewis) implies the lower income strata is incapable of toting reusable bags. Give ‘em away, if need be. The tax isn’t regressive if it’s truly optional which is the case here.

Labor unions and advocates for the poor should have natural linkage to pro-environment causes but seem to have lost their way on this issue. Charge a dime for the plastic bag. And then after a couple years of shifting behavior – ban ‘em altogether. They’re an environmental menace. Retailers will adjust and we’ll be a better place for it. Our friends on the left coast pulled it off. They always seem to do it a few years ahead of us. Let’s not drag feet. Let’s do away with the plastic grocery bag!

-What made the incredible one-handed Odell Beckham Jr. TD catch against Dallas last night even more unbelievable to me was the uncanny foreshadowing of the feat by NBC’s Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth. A few minutes before the score, the pair discussed a package of practice highlights showing Beckham snatching footballs from the air as if they were marshmallows. Under the clips, symphony music played. The jump and pluck technique employed by Beckham was creatively captured by the assembly of practice footage and kudos to NBC for good timing on the set-up to one of the more memorable football plays you’ll ever see. Incidentally, Michaels is pushing a new autobiography and did an entertaining spot with Francesa last Friday that included a great anecdote about a 1981 limo ride through Kansas City with Howard Cosell.