Los Angeles City Council voted this week to ban plastic shopping bags citywide from stores and grocery markets, aiming at a 2010 effective date. This ban is proposed as a caveat to the state's proposed 25-cent fee for every shopper's request for a plastic bag. Council members hope that such a ban would urge consumers to carry a canvas, cloth, or any other reusable bag for their shopping expeditions, thus reducing plastic deposits in the city's storm drains and, eventually, the ocean. The original plan was targeted for the year 2012, but the Council unanimously supported an earlier deadline.
Although the term "go green" can be heard globally and people are truly beginning to take heed and look ahead, the issue of plastic bags beckons immediate attention, for its impact is seen every day on beaches and in public places. Sea animals, birds, and land mammals are being threatened by the approximately 2.3 billion non-biodegradable plastic bags used in Los Angeles County alone every year. As they pile up in landfills, wash up on beaches, and clog storm drains, animals lethally mistake them for food, become entwined and drown, or even suffocate inside a wayward bag. Additionally, instead of dissolving, these bags break down into toxic sub-particles that travel in our ocean's water, land runoff, and air systems.
The City Council's vote comes right as the plastic bag industry, known formally as the Save The Plastic Bag Coalition, is putting up a good fight to keep its products in strong circulation. The plastic bag advocacy group has filed a lawsuit in response to a Los Angeles County plan to reduce plastic bag usage by 30% by the year 2010. A lawyer for the coalition says that so long as the council's decision remains a policy and not an actual law, there is no grounds for a legal fight. The argument here is that the policy will have a devastating effect on the area's packaging plants and that bans close factories, thus eliminating jobs.
For now, the City Council is set on persuading state lawmakers to impose a fee on plastic bag usage, but the long-term goal is to pass a law for their permanent ban. The debate, as always, is a tricky one whose theme is the ongoing struggle between industry and environment.