Plastic Bags Banned in California

On Nov. 8 proposition 67, plastic bag ban veto referendum passed in California, being one of the first states in the nation to ban them statewide.

Stores like Wal-Mart wasted no time in charging customers for plastic bags the day after the proposition passed.

While the plastic bag ban isn’t necessarily new to Long Beach or the County of Los Angeles, its caused a bit of mixed emotions from different people throughout the state.

As some will recall, LA county was the first large county in the nation to ban plastic bags back in 2012.

According to an article in the L.A. Times in 2012, California used 12 billion plastic bags a year.

The ban came in an effort to clean up the trash in landfills, rivers and the oceans.

Although it’s been going on for a few years in Los Angeles, as the proposition 67 passed and has now affected all of California, some people are fully supporting the ban, while others don’t and it has made them angry.

The question then comes down to, is the plastic ban a benefit to California? And if it is, why are people so against it?

According to Californians against waste (www.caawrecycles.org) local bans have already eliminated 5 billion plastic shopping bags per year. Its also been a reduction of approximately 185,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.

In an NPR podcast done in 2012, Host Michel Martin interviewed Michael Bolinder, who is for the bag ban and also interviewed Nick Gillespie, who criticizes the bag ban/fees.

Bolinder says the bag ban will help the environment by reducing litter we see in the streets and waterways.

Often there are plastic bags flying around and and Bolinder say that in order to eliminate that the money that is raised from these bags can be used to help build filters in rivers.

In some places, they have already used some of the money from the bags to build these filters in rivers and other water ways.

Bolinder also mentions that plastic bags are number four on the list of most littered items, according to Ocean Conservancy who has been collecting this data for 25 years.

Martin on the other hand agrees that the ban will help the litter problem but also argues that there are other things that contribute to littering, using the arguments that plastic bags are number four and things like cigarette butts are number one.

 Martin says the plastic bags aren’t the main problem. Another thing he says is that the fee on the bags is a solution for a middle and upper class problem that is only going to affect the poor community.

While going through social media sites, many people also left their comments of disapproval. Many people don’t like the idea of having to carry bags around with them everywhere, others think it’s a way for grocery stores and other stores to make a profit out of the customers.

One of the main concerns of banning the single use plastic bags is going to effect the jobs of many.

Many people are still willing to pay the 10 cents on the reusable plastic bags while others, who didn’t purchase much just simply carry their things with no bags.

The ban of single use plastic bags is going to be an adjustment for everyone in California and it will take a while for people to keep remembering to bring their own bags everywhere.

maddie@beachcomber.news