Bill to ban plastic grocery bags

[angelburst29]

For the last several years, environmentalists have been allocating for a ban on plastic "single-use" grocery and retail bags. Westport, Connecticut was one of the first to pass a City Ordinance banning the bags in September 2008. Seattle, Washington has had an Ordinance ban in effect since July 1, 2012. California's State Legislature has just enacted a ban and if signed by Jerry Brown by September 30, would become "Law" through out the State of California.


California passes plastic bag ban, would be first such law in U.S
_http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/30/us-usa-california-bags-idUSKBN0GU06E20140830

Saturday August 30, 2014

(Reuters) - The California state legislature enacted a ban on plastic grocery bags on Friday near the end of its two-year session, a measure that if signed into law would become the first of its kind in America.

A number of cities and counties in California and other U.S. states, including Hawaii's Maui County, have made it illegal for grocery stores to pack purchases in plastic. But at the state level, opposition from plastic bag makers has usually prevailed.

The California Senate voted 22-15 for the bill, which must be signed into law by Sept. 30 by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, who has not signaled a position on the measure.

"Single-use plastic bags not only litter our beaches, but also our mountains, our deserts, and our rivers, streams and lakes," said state Senator Alex Padilla, who sponsored the bill.

Padilla backed a similar measure last year but it failed by three votes. The fate of this bill was uncertain until the waning hours of the session after falling three votes short in the state's Assembly on Monday.

But after picking up the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the bill passed a second vote in the Assembly.

The measure would ban grocery stores from handing out single-use grocery bags with customers' purchases, and provide money to local plastic bag companies to retool to make heavier, multiple-use bags that customers could buy.

Environmentalists have pushed for banning plastic bags, which are cheaper for supermarkets to use than paper bags, but create mountains of trash that is difficult to recycle. In California, there is particular concern that the bags, when swept out to sea, could harm ocean life.

More than 10 billion plastic bags are used in California each year, according to an estimate by Californians Against Waste, an advocacy group supporting the bill.


Seattle plastic bag ban effective July 1, 2012
_http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Recycling/ReduceReuse/PlasticBagBan/

Here’s what the law does:
•Prohibits all Seattle retail stores from providing customers with single-use plastic carryout (shopping) bags, including those advertised as compostable, biodegradable, photodegradable or similar.

•Allows retail stores to provide customers with any size recyclable paper or reusable carryout bags

•Requires retail stores to charge a minimum of 5 cents for paper carryout bags of 1/8 barrel (882 cubic inches) or larger. These are typical grocery bags with a flat bottom greater than 60 square inches.

•Requires retail stores to show all bag-charges on customer receipts; stores keep all revenue. The charge is a taxable retail sale.
•Allows retail stores, at their discretion, to charge for smaller bags or provide them free.

•Allows retail stores to provide carryout bags made of plastic 2.25 mil or thicker, with or without charge at their discretion.

•Requires that bags to which the 5-cent charge applies contain at least 40 percent post-consumer recycled fiber and display the minimum recycled content on the outside of the bag. Use of recycled fiber and labeling is encouraged for all sizes of paper bags.

•Imposes a $250 fine for violations.

•Promotes reusable carryout bags as the best alternative to single-use plastic bags.


National List of Local Plastic Bag Ordinances
_http://www.cawrecycles.org/issues/plastic_campaign/plastic_bags/national

 

[mabar]

They tried to law it here in Mexico City, but didn't worked and didn't last much, due to controversial issues in the constitution. They banned the plastic bag but allow the blister products(??), or oblige producers to spend in packing for its product information, say, for example: the rubber band of an eyelash curler its about an inch, the package made of hardpaper and cellophane its 2-3 inches because the producer needs the area to print their address, where is come from, warnings, brand, subbrand, etc... and that, with pretty much every package.

What it seemed to had worked is the buying/selling of pet and cardboard, hard paper, metals, soda cans, etc, everything that is being used to recycle. Where I work/live you can see different people collecting that kind of trash, to obtain money for trash. As always and with everything, there is the other problem, that is, other kind of people steal metal objects like cupper or iron from the city and/or abandoned houses, like pipes, stainers, lids, tubing, etc...

Is the first time I am grateful for the action that of kind of people (the ones who steal) because, we use to have a trash container in front of, and one day, it wasn't there. It used to carry other problems, like the throwing of trash from any kinds of cans/plastic bottles, plastic glasses of any kind of bevrages without certain considerations, spills from the trash container were usual, so then, we use to wash the trash container daily for avoiding other kinds of critters.

Before the trash can, there was a tree in a big pot, people used it as trash container, not matter the placard we put, and we recollect the trash. People used to throw organic waste combined with non organic trash, just like that at the tree, because it has some organic waste (???)

Sometimes works better the education than the penalty.

 

[MusicMan]

Here in Oz one legislature banned plastic bags, but introduced the multiple use bags, which I have discovered are made of exactly the same type of material as the single use bags, which makes a mockery out of banning the single use bags in the first place.

The other thing they tried in one town was to ban plastic water containers.
They didn't ban the soft drink containers, only the water containers.

Sometimes I wonder about the intelligence of these people.
They call themselves "Greenies".
I say "Save the planet, plant a Greenie!"

 

[Chad]

Same here in England, but it didn't really work! Some shops now charge a few pence, some - like Tesco - just carried on giving them away for free.

What i found interesting is apparently those white plastic bags degrade faster than the tough black bin liners - and so it would make more sense to me to use those for throwing out the weekly rubbish. No? Either way, our recycling procedure comes with a 'wheel guide' which you rotate and it tells you what can and can't be recycled and which bin - this is ridiculous as it comes with about 30+ different options!

For me, it's another pointless distraction aimed at dispersing our energy - the bag issue, not recycling :) i spent a bit of time in Germany and they have that down to an art form, i used to LOVE throwing our empty glass bottles in the 'bottle bank'.

 

[hlat]

The way I see it, measures like this hurt the poor the most. Poor people now have to buy bags that should be free. It's like charging poor people to use the carpool lane.