Styrofoam food containers will be banned in city buildings, at LAX, and at city-sponsored events beginning next July and plastic bags will be ordered pulled from store checkout counters July 1, 2010, in accordance with a ban approved today by LA City Council. The decision comes just weeks after a similar measure in Manhattan Beach passed despite the threat of a lawsuit. Malibu banned plastic bags in May and the debate stalled on the issue in Santa Monica earlier this year. In 2007, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags.
Photo by colodio via flickr.




Good idea!
Get rid of the styrofoam and plastic.
And stores should be encouraged to give discounts or rewards to shoppers who bring their own canvas bags.
It's about time!!!
Ralphs gives you a nickel off your purchase if you bring your own bag.
Boooo
Check the following link:
www.savetheplasticbag.com
Yay!
So now I have to buy bags to pick up dog poop with. Great.
Check our any of these links and see what our love of plastics is doing to the planet;
http://www.greenfeet.net/newsletter/a-sea-of-plastic.shtml
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/ocean.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/nov/06/internationalnews.waste
If we aren't going to make all plastic recycleable, and actually recycle it, then we need to stop using it. As it is archeologists in the future are going to find a layer of plastic that will identify us as an age in the history of mankind.
The copper age, the bronze age, the iron age.
We will be the plastic age.
This bag ban is fantastic news.
Save the plastic bag dot com? Are you kidding me? How about save the planet.
The arguments on that site are completely irrelevant because they all pit the plastic bag vs the paper bag.
The point of this measure is to USE NEITHER.
i just re-read the story and noticed that it's only a PLASTIC bag ban, so let me rephrase that:
MY point is to USE NEITHER.
I too reuse plastic shopping bags for garbage bags in the kitchen, and yes, they are a natural for anyone who walks a dog.
But we've all heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, right?
I should note, it's only plastic Checkout Counter bags -- the cheap, flimsy one. Ziploc's and the type of bag the goldfish in the picture is in aren't affected, I just couldn't resist the photo.
Petco and Whole Foods both carry Biobags, made of cornstarch and approved by the state as biodegradable, for your poopy pooch (Tip: Whole Foods has the better price). I picked them up last weekend and have liked them so far, but I fear one day the large size just won't be enough...
I get the environmental consequences of plastic bags but has anyone thought of the added burden paying for paper bags will have on lower income families?
"has anyone thought of the added burden paying for paper bags will have on lower income families?"
Once again, that's not really a relevant argument because people now have TWO YEARS to find themselves a few reusable canvas bags.
You can't throw a rock in this town without hitting a vendor handing out free reusable bags at a free event. Like LA Weekly was doing at Make Music Pasadena last month.
This couldn't come at a better time. Aside from that big mass of floating plastic crap floating in the middle of the Pacific, keep in mind that plastic is a byproduct of petroleum, which, as we all know, costs a lot these days, and is something this country relies on from mostly foreign sources.
And foreign wars.
Trader Joe's in Studio City (and elsewhere?) is having an ongoing rally for a shopping spree; you get a ticket every time you bring in your own shopping bags.
This problem could have been solved with civility if grocery stores just bagged groceries in paper instead of plastic when customers don't show any preference. I don't give a crap and they always bag my things in plastic.
Anyway think of the trees. Will someone please think of the trees!!!!!
"Trader Joe's in Studio City (and elsewhere?)"
Must be everywhere. They enter you in a raffle if you bring your own bags at the Third and La Brea store too.
(sure wish they'd open a TJ's downtown)