Newport Beach opposes plastic bag ban

A proposed prohibition on the use of plastic bags by retail establishments similar to those adopted by Long Beach and some other California cities, was dead on arrival when it come to the Newport Beach City Council.

"This one would be a doozy, and we would potentially expose the city to litigation," said Councilwoman Leslie Daigle.

None of the council members spoke in favor of a ban, including Nancy Gardner, who has advocated for environmental regulations in the past.

"I do recycle my grocery bags," said Mayor Mike Henn, "in conjunction with walking the dog, virtually every day."

Environmentalists say fewer plastic grocery bags would mean less plastic in the sea, where animals can get tangled in it or confuse it for food.

Read the full story: Newport kills plastic bag ban proposal

ALSO:

Plastic shopping bag ban begins in Santa Monica

-- Mike Reicher, Daily Pilot / Times Community News

Photo: Plastic bags dot a Los Angeles landfill. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Mangello]

Disgusting. Pure and simple laziness.

[dean]

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For they are with me;
My bag and my staff, they comfort me.
I have prepared this vessel of dog poop in the presence of mine enemies;
I shall annoint thy head with this stuff; My cup runneth over.

[John Mcaluney Jr]

Amen to Mayor Henn! Pick up the dog poop with your plastic bags! Nice.

Sorry Nazi-Greens your ideas are exposed!

[John Mcaluney Jr]

Amen to Mayor Henn. Pick up dog poop with plastic bags.

Sorry, Nazi-Greens your ideas are exposed.

[affableman]

Just goes to show you there's no correlation between wealth and smarts.

[CarlosC]

Of course Newport Beach would oppose such a ban. It is a bastion of conservatives who own pertroleum company stick. Plastic bags made of pertroleum being outlawed hurts their bottom line. That is what the real truth is.

[Borsia]

People think this will be some kind of life altering social breaking point and it simply isn't a big deal.
I was living in Chengdu, China when they did this in 2008 and the transition was painless. All of the major stores switched to paper bags and the supermarkets sold reusable bags for about $1, many gave them away for the first month. The bags are fantastic, so good in fact that I bought some to bring back to the US. They hold more and they never tear or break, they fold up small enough to fit in your back pocket.
The cost of reducing the amount of trash we generate is nothing compared to what it is going to cost to clean it up in the future. The damage to the ocean ecosystem will cost us far more. Much of that damage may well turn out to be irreversible.
We grow more dependent on the oceans for our own survival every day, yet we continue to give it no respect in return.
The Chinese estimated that they eliminated around 4.5 BILLION plastic bags from going into the waste system per year, the population of Chengdu is around 12 million.
The US should be leading the world in reducing the amount of trash that ends up in the worlds oceans.
The Pacific ocean trash patch, where it all ends up in circling currents, is now the size of the state of Texas and contains roughly 3.5 MILLION TONS of trash, mostly plastic. The Atlantic has one close to the same size.
Anyone who doesn't understand that this is going to come back to bite us in the ass is a fool.

[evan]

If you do the research you will find that plastic bags have a negligible efect on the environment.

[evan]

By the way, I love how people rave about how China banned plastic bags. It's an authoritarian state where individual liberties aren't valued, so it's no surprise they banned plastic bags.

[bob allison]

So much for giving a darn about the environment. Talk is cheap. Anyone who thinks plastic bags are not a problem has not been walking with their eyes open. Reusable bags are a must. Maybe the plastic bag people will wake up with $5 a gallon gas!

[David]

Shame on them for being such cowards. Its this kind of selfish laziness that perpetuates negative stereotypes of Southern Californians.