VAN NUYS, CA — The City of Los Angeles is proposing a Reusable Bag Policy to prohibit single-use paper and plastic bags, and encourage the use of reusable bags to reduce waste, litter, and our impact on the environment, and protect our quality of life. The City will be hosting a workshop on Saturday, March 10th to discuss the proposed policy. The workshop will be held in the Van Nuys State Building (Auditorium) on Saturday, March 10th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The public is invited to come and learn about the proposed policy and share your views. The City of Los Angeles has proposed the Reusable Bag Policy to benefit the environment and our quality of life. The policy strengthens citywide use of reusable bags at supermarkets and select retail stores to protect our environment and quality of life against neglect and pollution. Up to 95 percent of plastic and 79 percent of paper single-use disposable bags will no longer be a source of waste and litter. More than 2 billion plastic and paper singleuse disposable bags will be removed from the City’s waste stream, helping to preserve our environment and quality of life for future generations.
The policy also ensures the removal of a significant source of pollution from plastic and paper single-use disposable bags on City sidewalks, streets, parks, waterways, lakes, storm drains and the ocean. If the City of Los Angeles enacts a plastic bag ban, it will join several other cities and jurisdictions in the region. A plastic bag ban went into effect in all unincorporated Los Angeles County on July 1, 2011. The City of Calabasas banned plastic bags in November, 2010. The City of Long Beach passed a plastic bag ban ordinance in May of this year, which is set to take effect from August 1st. On January 25th this year, the City Council of Santa Monica voted unanimously to ban single-use bags.
Their Ordinance will take effect on March 9th but will not be enforced until September 1st. According to the environmental group Californians Against Waste, 19 billion plastic bags are used in the state each year. It costs the state about $25 million to dispose of these plastic bags in landfills, where they do not biodegrade. Plastic bags account for most of the debris in the world’s oceans, where they pose a choking hazard to marine life, including dolphins and endangered sea turtles. The amount of oil or natural gas consumed in manufacturing plastic bags is an additional concern. Have your say on the issue this Saturday at the workshop here in Van Nuys.