Proposed Plastic Bag Ban (Los Angeles, Santa Monica: buy, costs, shop)

[Visit a Library]

I really like the plastic bags I get from stores in Los Angeles. I line my trash cans with them, so that when the can is full, I simply take out the bag and dispose of it in an outside trash bin. However, with the proposed ban, I'll just end up having to purchase plastic bags rather than use the ones provided with my purchases.

You'd think with crumbling roads, crumbling sidewalks, gridlock, the LAUSD, and all the rest of our blight, they'd have more productive things to do in the L.A. City Council than worry about plastic bags...

[Replaceme080]

I think plastic bags are should be banned. Because that are not good for the environment.

[TheKiwi]

I think banning them is a great thing! Sorry you won't be able to line your garbage cans with them for free now...

[woodstream]

I am definitely going to miss being able to reuse them as trash can liners and whatnot, but the good thing is that there are still places where they are not banned.

It's just something that we're going to have to learn to get used to.

[Wing Feathers]

Caving into these stupid yet popular ideas gets them re-elected, and keeps them on the fat payroll. They will continue to siphon money away from sidewalk & street repair, to earmark for plastic bag committees and perhaps an extravagant plastic bag seminar in Las Vegas.

Originally Posted by woodstream

It's just something that we're going to have to learn to get used to.

When are people going to say "enough is enough", though? How many things can be banned before we speak up instead of cower.

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by Wing Feathers

Caving into these stupid yet popular ideas gets them re-elected, and keeps them on the fat payroll. They will continue to siphon money away from sidewalk & street repair, to earmark for plastic bag committees and perhaps an extravagant plastic bag seminar in Las Vegas.


When are people going to say "enough is enough", though? How many things can be banned before we speak up instead of cower.

you have to pick and choose your battles. say it costs you an extra $1 when you go grocery shopping because you need 10 bags since you didn't bring your own, is that really going to negatively effect you? I'll save my energy for things like LADWP rate hikes right after hearing about across the board raises.

[1200RT]

I just typed up a very nice and thought out reply, which didn't post for some reason.

So here is the basics - I hate these bans and no longer shop in Santa Monica for this reason. Paper bags are not a true replacement, and plastic bags are neither 'single use' nor bad for the environment, as they are 100% recyclable.

I don't litter plastic bags, and neither do my neighbors. I will not argue that these bags find their ways into our oceans, but they get there by homeless (transient? whats the PC term these days?) littering them in our alleys. I see this happen daily, so there is little debate there. I reuse every plastic bag i get, either as trash can liners or to handle our dogs' business. These tasks have been replaced by purpose built bags, which will find their ways into landfills anyway.

Paper bags are also bag for the environment, just on the production side, not post consumer side. We have created an artificial demand for paper.

I will close with this - in all reality, as BR mentioned above - this issue is not the end of the world, and can be combated by shopping elsewhere, using reusable bags or paying $.10 for each paper bag. My bigger concern is the war on disposable items in general. It will be a real fun fight when they try to take away plastic Arrowhead bottles or make me bring my own Tupperware when I get takeout - on the same premise

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by TheKiwi

I think banning them is a great thing! Sorry you won't be able to line your garbage cans with them for free now...

These types of short sighted comments are the same way these laws get passed.

It has nothing to do with the financial aspect of 'lining your garbage cans for free' ....

My trash cans will be lined with or without the help of free plastic bags. You have replaced something REUSABLE with something that truly has a 'single use'. The whole point of these laws is pushing things that are reusable. Well - 'single use plastic bags' ARE reusable. The bags i buy to handle my dogs' **** and line my small garbage cans are NOT reusable, as i bought them new to handle these chores.

[Joseph Marnix]

You know one of the best re-use for those plastic bags is making it a plastic tank-top?

[LABornandRaised]

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

I really like the plastic bags I get from stores in Los Angeles. I line my trash cans with them, so that when the can is full, I simply take out the bag and dispose of it in an outside trash bin. However, with the proposed ban, I'll just end up having to purchase plastic bags rather than use the ones provided with my purchases.

You'd think with crumbling roads, crumbling sidewalks, gridlock, the LAUSD, and all the rest of our blight, they'd have more productive things to do in the L.A. City Council than worry about plastic bags...

LA City is actually taking it a step further. Some cities allow you to pay 10 cents for a plastic bag. This is going to be a full on ban, but it will be done in phases.

Check it out: L.A. Moves Ahead on Aggressive Plastic and Paper Bag Ban: LAist

"The ban would find single-use plastic bags at retail locations banned for an initial six-month period, then for the following six months a 10-cent surcharge would be placed on paper bags, and, following that period, single-use paper and plastic bags would be banned outright in the city of Los Angeles."