This is a great day for the City of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Council just adopted a policy framework for banning single-use plastic bags. This makes it the largest city in the nation to adopt a policy to move toward removing these bags from our environment. As I wrote yesterday in my blog, the environmental and economic problems with these bags far outweigh any limited benefit they may have. Thus, the City Council made the right move in sending the city on its way to banning them in Los Angeles.
In developing this landmark program, the City Council took a measured and reasoned approach. The framework includes a six-month educational period of the ordinance where no ban is in place. After that initial six months, larger stores must phase out single use plastic bags. Twelve months after adoption of the final ordinance, small stores will also ban these bags. For paper bags, retailers will be required to charge 10 cents per bag starting one year from today. In two years, a study will assess whether to ban outright paper bags as well. The City Council still needs to approve a final ordinance, including analyzing the environmental impacts of this policy, but it is my understanding that this will happen quickly.
The city has shown enormous leadership in passing this policy framework for a bag ban and Heal the Bay deserves a lot of credit for their role in advocating at the regional and state level. As Councilmember Koretz noted in his closing remarks, hopefully this will spur other cities, states and countries to ban these bags that impose so much burden on our environment and communities. Today marks a good step to making that dream a reality.
This article originally appeared on the NRDC's Switchboard blog and is reprinted with permission. Photo of Los Angeles during rush hour by Kinetic Imagery via Shutterstock.
Here are some facts and
Here are some facts and figures.
"The paper, LDPE, non-woven PP and cotton bags should be reused at least four, five, 14 and 173 times respectively to ensure that they have lower global warming potential than conventional HDPE(plastic) carrier bags."
http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/PDF/SCHO0711BUAN-E-E.pdf
If it is to be placed
If it is to be placed outside, choose a heavier, weather resistant material such as acrylic or aluminum. If it is for the indoors, choose a lightweight solid material such as wood or thin plastic.
DJ Facts and figures are
DJ
Facts and figures are great to include but not necessary in a blog. Its personal opinion. Also, just because people may reuse their plastics bags, it doesn't mean that it will disappear after you 'throw' it away. It ends up in a land fill, where wildlife may start tearing it apart for scraps of food. Or it just sits there for years until it biodegrades.
I'm sure you know plastic bags don't come from plastic trees. They are made from petroleum. A resource that is depleting.
The point here is that there are alternatives. Use a tote, use a paper bag made from recycled materials for pet waste that can easily decompose without harming another living thing. Stop producing so much trash so that you won't need to line your trash cans with plastic bags! Its a lifestyle change. Its not just one thing thats going to safe the planet but many choices we have to make. One at a time.
Its little things like this we hope will get the wheels turning.
DJ Facts and figures are
DJ
Facts and figures are great to include but not necessary in a blog. Its personal opinion. Also, just because people may reuse their plastics bags, it doesn't mean that it will disappear after you 'throw' it away. It ends up in a land fill, where wildlife may start tearing it apart for scraps of food. Or it just sits there for years until it biodegrades.
I'm sure you know plastic bags don't come from plastic trees. They are made from petroleum. A resource that is depleting.
The point here is that there are alternatives. Use a tote, use a paper bag made from recycled materials for pet waste that can easily decompose without harming another living thing. Stop producing so much trash so that you won't need to line your trash cans with plastic bags! Its a lifestyle change. Its not just one thing thats going to safe the planet but many choices we have to make. One at a time.
Its little things like this we hope will get the wheels turning.
With the best will in the
With the best will in the world, your blog isn't the most thoroughly researched article out there:
"Meanwhile, the environmental toll of disposable bags outweighs their advantages. For example, wildlife can mistake plastic pollution for food, which can result in death for these creatures. Plastic bags also blight our communities. Moreover, there are many economic reasons to ban these products, including the high cost of removing these bags from our land and waterways. These and other reasons have compelled forty-three municipalities in California to adopt ordinances restricting the distribution of single-use bags, and even the County of Los Angeles adopted a similar plan two years ago. More are on track to follow suit."
There's a grand total of zero figures or references there. Yes, wildlife can be harmed by plastic pollution - but how much of that is caused directly by plastic bags? What about those people who reuse plastic bags to line their trash cans at home or in their office? Or reuse the bags to clean up after their pets? What about those reports which highlight an increase in the number of garbage bags sold as people use those instead? I remember reading a report where in Ireland, the number of stolen grocery carts had increased as a result of this kind of ban!
While I see both sides of the argument, my honest belief is that this is something that people see driving down the highway and that's why it is targeted - I can see very few valid reasons beyond that at all.