State Plastic Bag Ban Dies; Local Push Emerges

Even though State senators rejected a bill that would ban single-use plastic shopping bags statewide, local environmental groups are now asking individual Southern California cities to consider the injunction on a municipal level.

"We lost the battle, but we will win the war by going the local route," Matthew King, Heal the Bay's communications director, told sister site Manhattan Beach Patch.

The Senate rejected AB 1998, which was authored by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica), Tuesday night in a 21-14 vote. If AB 1998 passed the state senate, the ban would have forced Hermosa shoppers to use reusable shopping bags or purchase recycled paper bags, starting in 2012.

Those who opposed it said that the bill would add an extra burden on consumers and businesses having to pay for paper bags or reusable bags at a time when many already are struggling financially.

Despite the bill being rejected, Heal the Bay said it would work at the local level to end "the environmental and fiscal waste caused by plastic bags." The Santa Monica-based nonprofit sponsored the bill.

"We will be working very closely with Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach as they begin to enact and implement their own bans on plastic bags," King said.

He didn't mention Hermosa Beach, but plastic bags' environmental impact remains a local concern as the city focuses on green issues during its quest to become carbon neutral.

California spends nearly $25 million each year collecting and disposing plastic bag waste, according to Heal the Bay. Less than five percent of plastic grocery bags are recycled each year statewide. 

The remainder clogs landfill, litters public spaces and harms oceanic wildlife when the bags infiltrate waterways, according to reports.

In her arguments supporting the ban, Brownley said that AB 1998 could help prevent situations like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — a tide of litter in the Pacific Ocean made of floating plastic debris.

"These bits are ingested by marine life, and then the harmful chemicals in them travel all the way up the food chain," said Carey Morishige of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Moreover, plastic absorbs chemical pollutants like DDT and PCB and from seawater and brings them to the surface."

Countries such as South Africa, Ireland, China and Bangladesh were among the first to discourage plastic bag use through fees or bans, according to an Associated Press report. In January, Washington, D.C., imposed a 5-cent surcharge on disposable paper and plastic bags provided at retail stores and supermarkets.

Tuesday's failed bill would have provided the first statewide ban, although a few California cities, including San Francisco, Palo Alto and Malibu, already prohibit use of the bags.

"Because of the state's failure to enact a uniform policy, the city and county of Los Angeles will now begin pursuing bans in their jurisdictions," said Heal the Bay President Mark Gold in the group's release.

He added that at least 20 more cities within L.A. County are considering banning plastic bags in the near future.