Plastic Bag Ban Watered Down by L.A. Leaders

By Dennis Romero Wed., May 23 2012 at 1:06 PM

Bernard Burns

Updated at the bottom: The council approved the watered-down version of the ban. First posted at 6:04 a.m.

The L.A. City Council almost brought home an unprecedented "double ban" on paper and plastic bags at your local market.

But last-minute lobbying pressure might have caused the body to back down. Now it's looking at a plastic-only ban that would phase out bags in six months to a year. A vote is expected this morning.

Oh well. Nice try:

Late yesterday the council leaned toward a revised ban proposed by council members Jose Huizar and Eric Garcetti that would mimic similar moves in Long Beach, Calabasas and Santa Monica.

According to City News Service:

The proposal would include a six-month phase-out of plastic bags for large grocers, a year-long phase-out for small grocers and a 10-cent fee for paper bags at all grocery stores one year after the ordinance is approved.

So much for being visionary.

Councilman Paul Koretz, who proposed the original ordinance that would have set the bar for banning bags, was leaning toward the Huizar-Garcetti compromise, City News Service reported.

The council almost always votes unanimously, so this sounds right.

In any case, it looks like L.A. is ready to do away with disposable grocery bags. Koretz said (PDF) nearly 13,000 people have emailed him to express support for his original proposal.

Environmentalists, however, probably won't be entirely happy. They wanted L.A. to be the first major metropolis to make folks bring reusable bags to the market.

Supporters of Heal the Bay will be out in force at City Hall for the big vote this morning.

[Update at 1:06 p.m.]: The council voted 13-1, with Bernard Parks against, to approve the watered-down version of the ban that would phase plastic out over six months for large stores and 12 months for smaller ones. After that paper bags would cost 10 cents.

L.A. is now the largest city in the nation to ban plastic bags: The ordinance will affect about 7,500 retailers, according to City News Service.

Heal the Bay spokesman Matthew King told the Weekly the group was satisfied:

We're ecstatic that it was a near unanimous vote. We hoped it would happen quicker than it did, but the ultimate result is satisfactory. It was a big win for Los Angeles today.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

bag ban, City Council, environment, Eric Garcetti, grocery store, Heal the Bay, Jose Huizar, Paul Koretz, plastic bag

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JDAGOS6114

QUESTION

Who gets to keep the 0.10 cents per bag addditional charge.Since the super markets will defray the cost of purchasing plastic bags...and IF they keep the charge.it appears to to me that they should absorb the cost. What's next a parking fee while shopping; invirementalist how about the additional trees that will be cut down to provide the demand for paperbags.there must me better SOLUTION.

SZwartz

They have things called, "shopping carts." I bring all my goodies to the check out stand in a grocery cart. After I pay for the items, I take them to my car in the grocery cart and load the my stuff into my car trunk. I certainly am not going to use those dirty germ ladden cloth bags which I them have to contantly wash. Get Real!

When I get home, the kids will take the groceries from the car trunk into the house. I will have some boxes in the trunk to make the hauling easier and the kids will return the boxes to the car for the next trip.

What's the problem? Who needs grocery bags when they have a SUV or Lincoln Towncar?

Wag18

Germ laden reusable bags? So, do you keep washing those germ laden boxes? Or, germ laden shopping carts? Germs are everywhere. I think you're overreacting a little bit. The products are in a germ laden environment prior to even reaching the store.

SZwartz

You missed the point. Your comment reminds me of the type person who goes to Dunkin Donuts and brings home only the holes.

Wag18

I guess I did. And I definitely missed the point of your Dunkin Donuts reference... But, whatever.

Bruinandlion

What the hell is this? Environment? In a free market economy shouldn't stores be able to sell anything they want that is not illegal? So now plastic bags are illegal? This is absolutely preposterous. I know because I live in Santa Monica where this already exists. I can't stop at the store on my way home from work because I forgot my own bag once they do away with the 10 cent paper bags? When reusable bag prices finally drop to a quarter there will be a massive overflow of reusable bags in the trash which I can't imagine break down any better than paper. I also walk to the grocery store so I'll only be able to buy what I can carry? The worst part is that at my local Vons, all the baggers were fired, so now the checker has to bag your stuff into your own bags, which creates huge lines. Now they not only charge for bags, but have a smaller payroll, an I definitely don't see a drop in grocery prices. Folks this is a scam, people are losing jobs and we are paying to be our own baggers.

Common Sense

You're a moron. I bring reusable bags to supermarkets and guess what happens... the baggers fill my reusable bags. The fact that your local podunk Vons fired its baggers has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this plastic bag ban.

Wag18

Thank god for Common Sense.

Wag18

I don't get it. Why is it bad that grocers are still allowed to have paper bags? Yes, I understand that people should use their reusable bags, which I do. But, there are times when I'm shopping and I didn't bring enough reusable bags and need a bag from the grocer to get my groceries home. If no bags exist at the store, how do people get their groceries home? I have to buy more reusable bags?

There needs to be some balance here between prohibition for ALL bags and having ALL bags available. Business still benefits from producing paper bags. The 10 cent charge is an incentive to consumers to use their reusable bags, but still provides a good backup. Paper bags are recyclable and break down in the environment faster than plastic. And, the environment benefits from the removal of plastic bags from the equation.

How is this legislation not a win-win?

SZwartz

Please allow me to explain. The Garcettoid knows all. End of story. Do what you're told

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I see

Balance the budget? no; Fix the roads? no.

Get our coal fired power back so electricity is cheaper? no. Lay off some people? no.

Install automatically resetting traffic lights over the objections of the unions? No.

"Oh I know! lets outlaw plastic bags!"

Common Sense

Oh yes, a coal-fired plant would be great for L.A.'s pristine air. Are you too short-sighted to realize that plastic bags are made of polyethylene which is a petroleum product? Reducing plastic bags reduces air pollution and energy consumption. Would save stores money to not have to buy plastic bags for their costumers too.

SZwartz

Pleezze, we aren't that dumb. We place the coal plants far out into the desert -- to pollute other people's air.

That's how we pretend electic cars cause no pollution.

Wag18

I understand your frustration here. There are higher priority issues that our lame government officials need to focus on. I'm still happy to see that we've managed to help clean up out environment, or at least slow down the speed at which we trash it.