Apartment Therapy Re-Nest | LA Ban of Plastic Shopping Bags?

Looks like LA is taking some positive steps forward in reducing the use and disposal of plastic bags. The Los Angeles City Council recently voted to ban plastic bags in the supermarkets and stores by July 2010, trying to coax the state to impose a 25¢ fee on every shopper who requests them before moving forward with the proposed enforced ban. With 2.3 billion plastic bags used each year in LA alone, and with only an estimated 5% of those plastic bags recycled statewide, this might be the sort of drastic change LA needs to get rein in a common litter source we often find stuck in our own yards...

posted originally from: AT:LA

Of course, the plastic bag manufacturing industry isn't taking this proposal sitting down, creating their own PR push back with "interesting" arguments such as:

If plastic bags are taxed or banned, paper bag usage will increase dramatically. The website refers to independent third party reports showing that paper bags are far more damaging to the environment than plastic bags.

-- Paper bags result in 3.3 times more greenhouse gas emissions than
plastic bags.
-- Paper bags require far more energy to produce and transport than
plastic bags.
-- Paper bags attract cockroaches, which is a major concern in apartment
buildings.
-- Paper bags are less reusable than plastic bags.

We don't think plastic bags need to be completely eliminated, as they are indeed useful for specific tasks. And switching to completely to paper does indeed bring up it's own problems. But with 2.3 billion plastic bags being used alone in our city with so little recycling occurring, one has to assume the solution is to move over to reusable canvas bags.

I hope they pass that. I think the 25 cent fee is great, too. In SF, I've seen that many more people bring their own, instead of going with paper. Really the key might be to charge the fee for the paper as well!

posted by SFGail on July 25th 2008 at 10:27am
view SFGail's profile

Agreed. The proper response to the plastic-bag representatives concern-troll-style green-washy hand-wringing about paper bags would be, "You're right, paper bags are pretty lousy, too," and extend the ban to include them.

Seriously, why isn't this a "disposable" bag ban? Paper and plastic both suck in their own way.

posted by Crosius on July 25th 2008 at 3:15pm
view Crosius's profile

I guess if the city handed out some free reusable bags; then I wouldn't mind the total "disposable" bag ban.

posted by Lizzykewl on July 26th 2008 at 1:08pm
view Lizzykewl's profile

This is a great idea! They do this already in some countries including Finland and Estonia. You choose how many bags you need at the grocery store and they charge you for them along with your groceries-this encourages people to bring their own.

posted by robin k on July 26th 2008 at 5:58pm
view robin k's profile

Seattle just passed a plastic ban "fee" of $0.20 per plastic bag effective January 1, with a likely ban on styrofoam soon. When will Apartment Therapy start covering Seattle?

posted by wesaturtle on July 30th 2008 at 9:14pm
view wesaturtle's profile

Thank you, your account has been registered.

We have sent an email to the address you registered with for verification purposes. Please use the link in the verification email to activate your account.