Ban or No Ban: The Debate over Plastic Bags in LA (UPDATED)
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 01.22.08
Image courtesy of Zainub via flickr
Will Los Angeles follow San Francisco's lead and become California's second major city to adopt a plastic bag ban? After some initial progress, the measure seems to have hit a wall: As Emerald City's Siel recently noted, a vote by the LA County Board of Supervisors to determine whether disposable plastic bags should be taxed or outright banned has been cast into doubt after the supervisors made a last-minute decision to water down some of the pollution plan's key provisions.
Several local environmental groups, including Heal the Bay, are urging supporters to attend a rally at noon to protest the supervisors' decision to back down on the measure and to advocate for a complete ban. Heal the Bay has been a leading voice on this issue and was frustrated to see its efforts to curry an agreement with the supes fall apart.
A Heal the Bay action alert lays out the situation thusly:
"During their January 22nd hearing, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider a variety of options to reduce plastic bag consumption, including a conditional or outright ban.In preparing for this vote, for the past nine months, Heal the Bay has been working with the Board and advocating for strong action to curb the County’s 6 billion bag per year plastic bag addiction. Our agreement as of Tuesday with several Board of Supervisors’ offices was that reduction and recycling efforts need to reach 35% by 2010 and 70% by 2013; if these reduction goals are not met, the Board would consider a bag ban.
However, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is threatening to weaken the above reduction goals to aggressively curb plastic bag use that had been agreed upon earlier this week. The County is unfortunately proposing to now further reduce these goals.
Because of Heal the Bay’s opposition to this additional weakening, the Board may AGAIN postpone a vote on this critical decision. The County’s latest proposal is simply greenwashing and only does lipservice to the blight and environmental damage caused by plastic bags."
The question over whether or not to enforce a ban remains a contentious one, with some influential voices coming out in favor of a bag tax. In a recent editorial, the LAT weighed in on the side of a tax on plastic bags, arguing that a complete ban would impose a hidden tax on retailers, which would inevitably be passed on to the consumers.
Moreover, the editorial criticized the biodegradable alternatives now being used in San Francisco for not "entirely solving the pollution problem," stating:
"The starch bags also don't entirely solve the pollution problem because they may never break down in landfills, which are sealed to prevent water seepage and thus "mummify" everything dumped in them, biodegradable or not."
It favorably cited the strategy China assumed this past week, which is to ban ultra-thin plastic bags while keeping the thicker ones - as long as retailers charge a fee for them. It concluded by stating:
"On Jan. 22, the supervisors are expected to vote on a motion calling on the Legislature to repeal that provision, and also to implement a statewide fee on plastic shopping bags. The board should pass it, and the Legislature should show that it has at least as much economic common sense as Chinese central planners by following through."
Ideally, of course, the best solution would be for people to simply reuse the bags - be they plastic, paper or starch - or, alternatively, to buy several of many reusable bags. Angelenos interested in attending the rally tomorrow can find more information about it here; also, if you support Heal the Bay's efforts, consider signing their petition urging the outright ban of plastic bags.
UPDATED: Via Siel again, it looks like there won't be a plastic bag ban until at least 2010.
Via ::Emerald City: Plastic bags: Ban them or tax them? A hearing happens 1/22 (blog), ::Los Angeles Times: Charging for plastic bags (newspaper)
See also: ::Wait for Us! Australia Wants to Ban Plastic Bags Too, ::China Launches Crackdown on Plastic Bags
Does anybody else regard 'last-minute decisions' as being suspicious at worst and at best completely undermining the wishes of the populace?
The idea that any measures to improve the environment are a hidden tax on retailers is a farce. It's more a case of them receiving a hidden subsidy from governments and environments by not having to be accountable for their actions.
Why does it feel that we have to drag these environmental Luddites kicking and screaming into doing what they know is right and the cost to them absurdly small.
Maybe, the only way for retailers to get the message is to return all the packaging to the store it came from...
gimme biodegradable bags and I'll be happy but ban plastic bags and I'll be pissed as a BAN will force me to BUY plastic bags for my trashes. I guess the GLAD company will be happy with a complete ban on plastic grosery bags
In Ireland it was estimated that some 1.2 billion plastic shopping bags were provided free of charge to customers in retail outlets annually, before the introduction of the levy of $0.21 now increased to $0.32
However after the levy was introduced, plastic bag usage dropped 90 percent in the first year.
nothing short of an all out ban on plastic bags will be acceptable. Im sick and tired of telling cashiers that "i dont need a plastic bag, i can carry it". i also use bins for groceries.
this is something that needs to happen whether some people reuse the bags for garbage bags or not, i dont use plastic bags for garbage bags and i am sure many other people dont as well. gotta look at the BIG picture, and that is that most people that receive that double bag for their bottled water throw that bag in the garbage asap and don't reuse it.
oil-based plastic bags should have a charge on them, like the Ireland thing. that would certainly produce consumer response. And then after a while they can be phased out.
Definitely need to ban them. Sure some people reuse them as trash bags or whatever but most often they till need up in the landfill or even worse, in our natural environment. Even recycling them isn't that great of an option. A lot of people will be inconvenienced yes, but when the majority won't take some responsibility, it should be taken away from them.
I'm pretty sure I support an all-out ban, but I have one problem with it:
What about people with corn allergies? Wouldn't bags made out of corn starch endanger them?
I have to agree that oil-based bags need to eventually be banned. However, it seems reasonable that there would be a period of time where retailers are simply taxed on each one they use (and can pass that along to the consumer), and a year or two later the bags would not be allowed. Ideally, the tax would be high enough to give an incentive to retailers to use biodegradable bags when needed.
BAN THEM!
I cant believe this is even a question, after all the damage we have done and are doing it is a TINY sacrifice!
BYOB!
Ban them, ban them, ban them ... Look, it was not very long ago that plastic bags were rare, and we all did just fine without them. According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South [latitude].
Wastepaper baskets don't require liners, they require you rinse them out weekly. We've grown accustomed to certain plastic uses, turning them from occasional luxuries to absolute need.
Sandwiches can be transported to reusable, washable wraps, (reusablebags.com), recycled or cloth grocery sacks save more, mesh bags taken to the store instead of using a plastic bag for each tomato or every cucumber bought will save a lot. It won't hurt a bit. We've been cavalier - thinking there is always more land, more space. There isn't, and we're making the environment toxic for our children and grandchildren.
A few facts
According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year
Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
I tried to sign their petition, but couldn't find a button to do so.
Yes, ban plastic bags, it's a shame that corrupt politicians are in the way of the people.
I tried to sign their petition, but couldn't find a button to do so.
Yes, ban plastic bags, it's a shame that corrupt politicians are in the way of the people.