Last night, the Manhattan Beach City Council voted and passed a ban on plastic bags, according to the City Clerk's Office. A month ago, the city tried to pass the ordinance, but opposition claimed the city did not go through the correct environmental review processes. Nevertheless, one group said prior to last night's meeting they would probably still sue the city over the new law. The oceanside city joins Malibu and San Francisco in plastic......

After both San Francisco and Malibu successfully passed plastic bag bans in their respective cities, Manhattan Beach is taking up the issue tonight at their City Council meeting. The measure is similar in nature to Malibu's ordinance, but opponents, Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, say the city did not go through the correct process to initiate such a ban and threatens to sue. Another issue to them is that paper bags are not addressed, which......

The quarter might become a triple-threat of the coin world soon if LA County and Heal the Bay have their way in Sacramento. Adding to the two biggest reasons why the 25 cent piece is the most coveted piece of cupronickel in your pocket--laundry and parking meters, of course--bill AB 2829 calls for "a mandatory fee on the distribution of single-use plastic shopping bags at all large grocery stores and pharmacies statewide." The bill differs......

Santa Monica is getting ready to put a drastic bag ban measure on the table next week. Previous musings about a state-level ban have made waves already this year, and the movement by the public to carry reusable bags is steadily gaining momentum. Per a press release, their proposal includes directives from the staff, asking that the City Council: 1. direct the City Attorney to draft an ordinance banning the free distribution to customers of......

"Paper or Plastic?" is the somewhat innocuous and expected question we're faced each time we check out at the grocery store. But what if that question came with a price tag, like 15 cents for every plastic bag we required when making a purchase? Or what if we banned the bag altogether? If a Van Nuys man's proposal becomes law, shoppers might have to pony up the cash in order to carry out in plastic.......

Why is the Red Line running a little slow Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights? Probably because these orange-vested types are cleaning out the pipes under the tracks. Metro's repair guys and gals send a little camera snaking down the pipes to look for gunk – I'm not sure if "gunk" is the technical term for it, actually – and they follow it with what looks to me like a giant vacuum cleaner. "The water......

Yesterday's citywide public relations blitz, "A Day Without a Bag," to bring awareness to our bad habits of using and and ditching paper and plastic bags in the trash was a quaint effort by city and county leaders -- a step in the right direction, as it were. Though, in a nation where the average household consumes 750 plastic bags a year, one day, or two bags, is hardly habit forming. And habit is......

Heal the Bay gives out free canvas bags for "A Day Without A Disposable Bag Day"...

Did you know that residents of Los Angeles County use 6 billion plastic bags a year, and only 5% of bags in the US are recycled? In the state of California the average person uses 552 bags, according to the environmental organization Heal the Bay. These bags are then left to choke up our waterways, landfills, streets, and urban landscapes, causing harm to animal life and our ecosystem. This is why Heal the Bay, along......

Last year I challenged myself to stop using plastic bags at grocery stores by bringing my own reusable ones. After months of forgetting to bring my own bags and kicking my own arse mentally, it is now a natural habit when heading out the door. Now it's time to challenge myself again with reusables. It may make me look like an old crazy bag lady, but it must be done. I must start to make......

After successfully getting into the habit of bringing my own bags to the grocery store and saving 40% on my electric bills with CFLs, it's time to revisit something that was my first step in going green: no more paper throw-aways. This has been one of the easiest, non-thinking green steps ever. So easy, I forgot I was doing it. I invested in about fifteen cloth towels and haven't bought paper napkins or towels in......

Tonight at the Shrine Auditorium, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will bestow the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. This year the Academy has launched their Green With Emmy Campaign. The event features the use of alternative fuel sources for deliveries, hybrid vehicles for talent, recycled paper, a set created from mostly rentals with less construction and waste, staff tuxedo will be dry cleaned with eco friendly solutions and not covered in plastic bags,......

Once while driving down the freeway from Santa Clarita into the LA over the Newhall Pass, I came upon a boat. No, not some truck pulling a boat. But a speed boat sitting in lane one (that's the furthest left lane). It obviously became detached from a vehicle. But where were they? There was no one pulled over looking distraught. DID THEY NOT NOTICE?!!? So I called 911 because that is what you are......

Living in Los Angeles with my dog Skeela has made me keenly aware of shit. Every day I wrap my hand in some sort of petro-chemical barrier, scoop up whatever solid matter has fallen out of my canine, tie a knot in a hand-to-shit barrier bag to seal off the stench, and then proceed to dispose of it cleanly in the nearest appropriate receptacle. My dog eats a well-balanced diet with plenty of whole......

One had never seen so much commotion on Robertson Boulevard, even on a day when Paris or Lindsey are nowhere in sight. Yesterday British designer Anya Hindmarch's limited edition, ecologically-friendly bag took center stage. All this for $15!! I had heard of the first edition of these bags long after they had sold out. I checked out the website to see what all the fuss was about. There one could register for the waiting......

This dog delivers beer! Click here to find out how. Photo by C-Monster. Larry Birkhead to World: I told you so! Sleazy paparazzo beats off human parasite, fake prince, former bodyguard and clump of seaweed to prove he's Anna-Nicole's baby-daddy. -TMZ Howard Stern cozies up to Birkhead, says Papa Larry can spend as much time as he wants with little Mealticketlynn. World's #1 Mom Virgie Arthur expected to sue for custory. -TMZ MSNBC punishes......

An occasional series of Sunday posts on you and your grocery shopping experience in reference to bags - plastic, paper, reusable, etc. The first two posts can be caught here and here. Now you have two choices: plastic or bring your own. It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the......

LAist Rants are strictly the opinions of the author in question. Uncanny as it is, they are written in first person! We keep them on Sundays because even the hive mind needs a rest. I always had them in my car trunk with good intentions. Though, for years, I would forget to use them and give myself the obligatory mental swift kick in the arse, each and every time at the grocery store check......

On Wednesday, Councilman Ed Reyes submitted a new proposal to get rid of grocery-bag blight. While other city leaders advocate following the lead of San Francisco and ban the free distribution of grocery bags in supermarkets, the Environmental News Network reports that Councilman Reyes wants manufacturers of plastics and officials in grocery chains to partner with him on bag cleanups and recycling programs. "San Francisco has the wherewithal to charge that much. San Francisco......

Let's face it -- LAist knows that getting your caffiene-buzz on a Monday morning is tough enough simply because it's a Monday morning. But having to decide where to go, if there's enough parking, how quickly you can do it and which route to take are all legitimate and complicated decisions. But when competition becomes so crazy that the same unnamed beanery puts one of their stores directly across the street from another one......