Will L.A. County's ban on plastic bags do any good?

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to ban plastic grocery bags in areas of the county under its jurisdiction. The ban, which will begin taking effect in July, is a broadly worded measure that proponents hope could become a model for California.

Document: Read the plastic bag ban ordinance

The measure, which goes beyond ordinances adopted in Malibu and San Francisco, has sparked debate, including a critical editorial in Friday's Times. We also asked Twitter users to weigh in on the issue, asking "Why do lawmakers think banning recyclable products will solve problem?" Here's a sample of responses:

What do you think? Leave your comments below or join the discussion on Twitter (using the #LATchatter hashtag for maximum exposure).

-- Martin Beck

twitter.com/latimesbeck

 

Comments

[Tornadoes28]

If they are going to ban plastic bags due to litter problems and filling up our landfills, then why not ban cigarettes? Why stop there? Maybe LA County should also ban disposable diapers since they are one of the largest contributors to land fills. What about banning gum because we see so much gum on sidewalks?

So why only plastic bags? My point is this is a silly law.

[Frink Stink]

all they've done is cost my local grocery story my business. I live within 1 mile of orange county and will be shopping there once this ban goes into effect. What's more, I will be contributing more pollutants to the earth with the extra mile I will now drive. Great job supervisors!

[ilovegoodmysteries]

Sounds good, in theory, but I'm worried about all the people who will now have to carry own cloth bags which contain a lot of germs.
And, if one has a dog, how do they now dispose of the dog's feces?

[o_o]

Why is this such an issue? Plastic bags are non-biodegradable and have the shelf llife of Plutonium (just about)... Reusable bags are 99 cents (the cost of a single serve bag of Potato Chips), heck some people give them away and they last for years...I give Gifts in them instead of wrapping paper and folks appreciate them. And if you must...Paper bags can be recycled into more paper bags and are... biodegradable.

Plastic bags were introduced in the 80's and can go away as fast as they came... We survived before plastic and we will after... Plastic bags are a convenience we used irresponsibly... And I agree, get rid of plastic bottles and plastic infused diapers while your at it... We again survived without them for centuries.
We are a disposable society and we need to stop it...

People are too LAZY!

[Aline Hankey]

It should be noted that the decision in LA county is not an isolated occurrence. Several cities and an array countries are ruling on this specific change as part of a growing global movement to discourage plastic bag use all over the world. The list of countries includes Germany, England, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Uganda, Kenya, India, Bangladesh, and China (Planet Ark 2009). If Western countries, finance-strapped developing nations, and even industrial giants can agree, it should be no surprise that the environmental issue has now been taken up in California. Plastic bags pose an extreme problem, not only for overflowing landfills but more importantly our oceans. The biggest proof? Look up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This massive glob of "plastic swirling junk" is an effective openwater dump sitting smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean spreading to an area twice the size of Texas. The "Patch" weighs in at almost 3.5 million tons, 80% percent made up of entirely plastic. Fish eat this crap, you take your girl to her favorite hip sushi place, eat those fish, and now you got a belly full of processed plastic for the fine price of a swanky meal.
The problem: While it is estimated that 500 billion to 1 trillion bags are produced for use each year, the largest percentage of those go straight from the store to the trash, without even the possibility of being recycled. What's worse, these bags take literally hundreds of years to decompose....which, for most of us, can be hard to fully conceptualize. Essentially, after you get old and die, and are sadly followed by your own precious children, your adorable grandchildren, and even their future superkids, THAT grocery bag, sitting in your trashcan right now will still be around. The rules of life and death sure aren't fair.
Now putting this all in mind, it's really a no brainer. Technology and human progression are constantly on the move. In the entire span of human existance we came up with plastic bags relatively about a minute ago. In another minute, maybe even in the blink of an eye, we will have moved beyond. So don't fret. Go with the flow. And just let time do its thing.

[Blayme Gayme]

If people were responsible enough to recycle plastic bags and to make sure they don't end up on the streets or in the ocean we wouldn't need this law.

Why blame lawmakers because they have to enforce something like this? Look at yourselves first.

As for canvas bags collecting germs? There's this new fangled contraption called a "Washing Machine". I hear it works pretty well.

Still want your plastic bags? Demand that they be made out of compostable materials. Problem solved.

[Chillipepper]

What about the trash bags that is being use in household, offices.. etc. Do you know how big and bulky those trash bags are. They are even thicker and much more worst than the store plastic bags. What about packaging, disposable cups, water bottles.. STUPIDITY is in every corner of the government

[drewwwwww]

i commend the supervisors for trying to be environmentally-conscious. but did they even think about what kinds of socioeconomic effects that this ban could have?

think about it. unincorporated l.a. county includes some of the county's poorest and most economically disenfranchised communities. watts, athens, lennox, willowbrook, city terrace, east los angeles all fall within the county's jurisdictions. so these people are the ones that are going to have to shell out an extra 10 cents per paper bag, while their white-collar neighbors in incorporated cities such as beverly hills, rancho palos verdes, and pasadena will continue to receive plastic bags completely free of charge.

what's ironic is that the three democrats on the board - molina, yaroslavsky, and ridley-thomas - all voted in favor of this socially inequitable policy, while republican antonovich voted against it.

just more evidence that the supervisors hastily passed a law for the sake of "setting a model" without thinking through its consequences...

[Hamster-Style]

California needs to adopt a deposit system like many other states do. Take Michigan, 10cents per can/bottle/etc. drastically reduces the amount of recyclables in landfills and encourages people to return the container because they get their money back. The whole CA CRV thing is a scam. But CA could go one further and put a deposit on ALL plastic, aluminum, glass containers not just certain ones like the other states do.

And I'm all for banning plastic bags, but a better solution would be to force the bags manufacturers or even a new company provide fully biodegradable plastic bags. Such bags could and are easily made from hemp seed oil and break down in a matter of months.

[deb dey]

Enforcing law is not the way to tackle this issue. I think the government should encourage people to avoid using plastic bags and educate them at the same time so that people voluntarily shun the use of plastic bags. However, the damage has already been done and we should hope that it will do good to LA.

[Michael J. Cahill]

Supermarkets did not cause the problem. The manufacturer/distributor is not responsible for those who misuse their product. The plain fact is that 90 percent of the population simply does not recycle. Much as the seat belt law, while initially upsetting to most folks, saved (and continues to save) lives, banning plastic bags and forcing shoppers to adopt reusable bags will, in the long run, significantly improve the situation. We will adapt, despite the gripers. If you want to keep the plastic bags, then save yours and reuse them when you shop.

[BarnacleBob]

Many have seen one person hauling 4 plastic bags filled with groceries in one hand and 4 in the other looking like they are in a World's Strongest Man/Woman competition. With the plastic bags, it's seemingly easier for one person to do something like carry 8 bags of groceries at one time; it'd be seemingly hard if not impossible to do this using paper bags.

Plastic bags would appear to let the consumer carry more groceries at once. Frankly, they probably also give consumers the freedom to buy more groceries at one time (Great if you're ADM or a grocery retailer). And yes, plastic bags have unfortunately, probably been one of the small factors that have aided the obesity problem in the U.S. over the decades (with them, one person can carry more, buy more, and later on -- if s(he) wishes -- conveniently have more available to eat).

So we outlaw them in LA County? Maybe the good news is that LA will lose weight in the aggregate and thereby become a lead guinea pig for the rest of the country regarding plastic grocery bag policy.

[Emile Zola]

What a stupid question. Of course, it does. To run a marathon, you have to start with the first step and doing the first step doesn't mean you are going to win, but it puts you in the running.

[Richard]

I remember how they sold how beneficial it would be to use these bags.
So, the pundits got it wrong ... again.
Lots of people use the bags as trash bags at home or picking up dog poop.
What happens when the bags are not available? You got it, people just buy
bags instead of reusing the plastic ones.

In the end, its all about money.
They want to charge a fee to use it pay off more union employees instead
of firing them or reducing their pay, because the union owns their butts.

[lola]

The ban doesn't go far enough, but its a start. Anyone who has ever watched a seal or seagull choking on a strip of what used to be a single use plastic shopping bag will tell you that we need to have the incorporated parts of the county ban them too.

[Norm Silver]

Stop and remember when LA city and County both began the Air Pollution Control ideas back in the '50's. Some thought it would never fly and now the nation is doing it. This may be the first step that is joined by many others. It is a problem and it does have to be addressed.

[Michael Sloan]

Can any of you explain why the law mandates a DIME must be charged for each PAPER bag????? What does this have to do with plastic bags? Some of us don't want to walk around with those stupid liberal fabric bags which are filled with bacteria.

[Heidi]

I grew up without free grocery bags in Germany and was shocked about the amount of bags you get in the markets here and also about the double and triple packaging. There is still a lot more to do, but no more free plaxtic bags in grocery stores is a good start. I always have a bunch of reusable bags in my car. It is really not a big deal, especially here, where everybody drives in a car to go grocery shopping anyway. It is more inconvenient, if you have to do it by bus or bicycle but I don't think that applies for most of us here.