Today Los Angeles is the 14th city in California and the largest city in the US to ban disposable plastic bags at the check-out counters in grocery stores. The ban will take effect later this year after an environmental impact report. The city has 7500 grocery stores, and they will all have to comply with this. The larger ones within six months and the smaller ones within a year.
Three billions of plastic bags goes to waste each year in L.A alone so undoubtedly this will have a huge impact on the environment. Altogether California uses over 12 billions of plastic bags every year and only 5 percent is being recycled.
From the beginning the ban also included paperbags, but this was not a part of the deciscion this time. Instead customers will be charged 10 cents per paper bag at the store. In two years the city will conduct a study to determine if the ban should also include paperbags.
There has been a lot of discussions about the loss of jobs for people that produces those plastic bags. This is a great example on how to move forward; Projectgreenbag. Environmentally friendly and keeping employment within California as well.
More information about plastic waste can be found at the Plastic Pollution Coalitions website.
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