Down With Plastic: Manhattan Beach Bans Plastic Bags With Supreme Court Support
Today the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Manhattan Beach's plastic bag ban after much litigation regarding its passage.
Save the Plastic Bag, an industry group of plastic bag manufacturers, opposed the 2008 City of Manhattan Beach plastic bag ban ordinance, claiming that paper bags would increase landfill volume and further threaten the environment. The Court of Appeal sided with the group, agreeing that the City should have conducted a full Environmental Impact Report.
The Supreme Court reversed the decision today, concluding that "substantial evidence and common sense support the City’s determination that its ordinance would have no significant environmental effect.”
Although L.A. County's plastic bag ban passed on July 1, 2011, it applies only to unincorporated areas of the county. Many cities in L.A. County, like Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Beverly Hills, are actively pursuing their own bag bans and succeeding.
Victories like today's continue to pave the way in the worldwide green effort to ban plastic bags.
