Posts tagged plastic bag ban

Souvenir 125th Anniversary Best of Oceanside Bags Now Available!

By on August 2, 2013

The beautiful Souvenir Custom Best of Oceanside 125th Anniversary Reusable Bags are now available at local participating merchants, the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, Parks and Recreation, the Californian Welcome Center and at The Sunset Market in Oceanside. (Please see the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce Facebook page for dates they will be at the Sunset Market).

These bags feature beautiful pictures of Oceanside, and the historic pier picture, plus carry over $1000 of coupons and discounts for local restaurants and merchants.  The bags were also a benefit for Wounded Warrior Homes, which provides transitional housing for Vets suffering with traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

Each bag sells for just $5, and is a large, sturdy, lead-free, washable bag that can be used and washed over and over.  We love seeing these bags around town, and know the support that it gives to the local merchants and Wounded Warrior Homes.

Please purchase bags at the participating merchants (see The Best of Oceanside Bag tab) or at The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce office.  They are also sold at the California Welcome Center at Coast Highway and Highway 76.

WE Care Bags is taking reservations for space on The Best of Carlsbad and Encinitas currently.  These spots will fill up quickly, so get your reservation in now!

 

 

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L.A. makes history with ban on plastic bags at stores May 23, 2012 | LA TIMES

By on June 12, 2013

Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to approve a ban on plastic bags at supermarket checkout lines, handing a hard-fought victory to environmentalists and promising to change the way Angelenos do their grocery shopping.

Reusble bags are good for all ages to use!

The City Council voted 13 to 1 to phase out plastic bags over the next 16 months at an estimated 7,500 stores, meaning shoppers will need to bring reusable bags or purchase paper bags for 10 cents each.

The ban came after years of campaigning by clean-water advocates who said it would reduce the amount of trash in landfills, as well as the region’s waterways and the ocean. They estimate that Californians use 12 billion plastic bags a year and that less than 5% of the state’s plastic bags are recycled.

Los Angeles become the latest in a string of California cities – including San Jose, San Francisco and Long Beach – to ban plastic bags.

Plastic bag bans across California vary in scale, with some applying to all retailers and restaurants, and others covering only supermarkets. Some are silent on paper bags while others, like Los Angeles County’s, require markets to charge customers who want to use paper bags.

Officials in some cities with bag bans hail the program as a success.

Santa Monica’s plastic bag ban has been in place since September. “There’ve been no citations necessary to give out,” said Josephine Miller, a city environmental analyst. “No stores have gone out of business.”

San Francisco approved the state’s first plastic bag ban in 2007, applying it only to supermarkets and pharmacies. Since then, officials have moved to expand the bag restrictions, which has drawn a legal challenge.

Despite initial grumbling from customers and business owners, people have gotten used to bringing their own bags, said David Assmann, a manager in San Francisco’s environment department. “I think it’s become part of the culture here,” he said.

In Los Angeles County, the 10-cent paper bag fee has led to a 94% reduction in the use of those bags, said Jennie R. Romer, founder of www.plasticbaglaws.org, who has advised cities on the passage of bag laws.

Things went less smoothly in Oakland, which was sued over its bag ban. That city dropped its measure but will be covered by Alameda County’s plastic bag ban starting next year.

Council members in Los Angeles were egged on Wednesday by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and an array of environmental groups. As they prepared to approve the ban, city lawmakers called on their counterparts in Sacramento to follow suit.

“Let’s get the message to Sacramento that it’s time to go statewide,” said Councilman Ed Reyes, who is pushing an effort to revitalize the Los Angeles River.The council’s decision kicks off a four-month environmental review, followed by what is expected to be routine passage of an ordinance enacting the ban.

As they celebrated their action, council members quietly backed away from a more controversial plan to also ban use of paper grocery bags, first proposed last year by appointees of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Once the plastic bag ban ordinance is enacted, larger stores will have six months to stop handing out plastic bags and smaller markets will have 12 months. After that, retailers would be required to charge 10 cents for each paper bag they provide customers.

“My hope is that so few paper bags will be used as a result of this measure that the formal ban … on paper bags may not even be necessary,” said Councilman Paul Koretz, who initially had hoped to prohibit paper as well.

Councilman Bernard C. Parks cast the lone opposing vote, saying the city lacked information on potential health hazards from reusable bags.

Employees of plastic bag companies – many in T-shirts with the message “Don’t Kill My Job” – pleaded unsuccessfully with council members to change course, saying they feared they would soon be unemployed.

An industry group warned that the council’s decision will threaten the jobs of 2,000 workers statewide and said it is keeping open the option of filing a legal challenge. “With this bag ban, the city chose to take a simplistic approach that takes away consumer choice instead of pursuing meaningful programs that encourage greater recycling of plastic bags and wraps, while preserving jobs,” said Mark Daniels, chairman of the nonprofit American Progressive Bag Alliance.

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Honolulu Passes Ban on Plastic Bags By Michael Levine 04/25/2012

By on May 1, 2012

KAPOLEI — Honolulu could soon become the fourth and final county in Hawaii to implement a ban on single-use plastic checkout bags
Read at: http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/04/25/15659-honolulu-passes-ban-on-plastic-bags/

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The cities of Sunnyvale and Monterey in California recently passed legislation to ban plastic shopping bags, while San Francisco, the first city to adopt such an ordinance, is considering strengthening its own regulations.

By on February 2, 2012

by Alexis Petru 12/09/11 Plastic bag bans are making headlines in California again this week, with two more cities passing ordinances to restrict plastic shopping bags and San Francisco considering strengthening its existing legislation.

In the heart of Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale will ban plastic bags, beginning next June, in large grocery stores and retailers, while exempting restaurants and nonprofit organizations, the San Jose Mercury News reports. To encourage customers to bring their own reusable bags on their shopping trips, stores will charge 10 cents per paper bag distributed – a fee that will increase to 25 cents in 2014.

The city expects the new regulations to reduce plastic bag use within the jurisdiction by 95 percent, from 75.2 million bags a year to 3.8 million, according to advocacy group Californians Against Waste.

Further south, along California’s central coast, the city of Monterey adopted a similar ordinance, banning plastic shopping bags in retail stores and charging a 10-cent fee for paper bags starting in mid-2012, Californians Against Waste reports. Like Sunnyvale’s regulations, the paper bag fee will be raised to 25 cents the following year.

Monterey estimates that the new legislation will cut plastic bag use by 2.8 million bags each year, while preventing 740,000 paper bags from being distributed.

READ: More Cities Explore Plastic Bag Bans

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, the first city to enact a plastic bag ban, the Board of Supervisors has delayed a vote on changes to the city’s original ordinance until February, according to the San Francisco Appeal.

Under San Francisco’s current law, supermarkets and chain store pharmacies are prohibited from distributing plastic bags, but there is no fee on paper shopping bags. Proposed revisions to the legislation would extend the plastic bag ban to all retail establishments by October 2012 and restaurants by 2013. A 10-cent fee would also be placed on paper bags, bringing San Francisco’s ordinance in line with other Californian cities’ ordinances.

With the passage of Monterey’s and Sunnyvale’s new laws, there are now 16 jurisdictions in the Golden State that have banned plastic shopping bags, Californians Against Waste says.

Proponents of plastic bag bans say that simply encouraging shoppers to bring their own shopping bags to stores hasn’t been effective in reducing single-use shopping bags. They also point to the material’s low recycling rates, impact on marine life and litter clean-up costs.

Makers of plastic bags and industry organizations such as the American Chemistry Council, however, criticize plastic bag bans for limiting consumer choice and harming the growth of plastic bag recycling programs. They also say that manufacturing and transporting plastic bags is more environmentally friendly than producing paper bags. http://earth911.com/news/2011/12/09/sunnyvale-monterey-san-francisco-california-plastic-bag-bans/

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