Plastic bag ban news from Oakland to China
L.A. County chickened out on a plastic bag ban, but the city of Oakland's fighting hard to make its ban happen. Oakland passed a plastic ban last year that was supposed to go into effect last week on Jan. 18. Unfortunately, the plastic bag industry sued, delaying things.
So on Monday, Oakland's city council's holding a pro-bag-ban press conference; all Oakland peeps are encouraged to attend. The very next day, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch will consider the lawsuit. Good luck Oakland!
In related bag news, the L.A. Times has more details on China's plastic bag ban that goes into effect June 1. China's new bag rules are actually a combo of a ban and a tax. The ban applies only to the thinnest plastic bags, which has some people complaining about the flimsy rules. Thicker ones -- which are supposed to be easier to recycle and dispose of -- are exempt from the ban BUT must be SOLD, not given free, to customers.
The cities and counties and countries that have enacted plastic bag related laws and ordinances all have slightly different rules and regulations. If you're interested in the nitty gritties, check out Heal the Bay's roundup. The one silver lining in L.A. County's delay of bag bans is that, since we've chosen to be followers instead of leaders, we'll at least be able to learn from the successes and failures of similar programs before enacting our own ban or tax.
Photo by Mike Innocenzi via Flickr
