LA County Pushing to Ban Plastic Bags

It’s finally happening! Two days ago, on November 16^th, 2010, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took the first step to ban single-use plastic bags. The final ordinance will be come up for a vote next week!

If approved, beginning in July 2011, sixty-seven supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies, and drug stores in the unincorporated county area must discontinue providing plastic bags at check-out counters. By January 2012, the ban will cover 1,000 stores throughout the county. Even more progressive than San Francisco, the ordinance will also place a 10-cent surcharge on paper bags to deter shoppers from turning to other disposable bags.

Interestingly enough, the American Chemistry Council (consisting of members who make plastic bags) have already sought to use the recently passed Prop. 26 (refer to my previous blog post for more information on this initiative) to prevent the 10-cent fee from becoming enacted. Tricky tricky ACC, but the 10-cent charge would be exempt from the fee approval because the revenue from the charge would be given to the store owners, not the government.

Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a news update from the LA Times. Maybe in a year we’ll see less of these “urban tumbleweeds” drifting across the freeways, clinging to the trees, and slipping into our ocean waters.

Check out the full story from the LA Times.