LA Approves Ban on Plastic Bags!

It's official! From one year from now, plastic will be a rare site at stores.  On Wednesday, LA City Council voted 13 to 1 to phase out plastic bags within the next 12 months.  That is about 7,500 stores! 


Here is how the ordinance will go into effect:


For four months, there will be a environmental review of the bag bag in order to put the ordinance into effect. 


Larger stores would then have six months to phase out plastic bags while smaller markets would have a 12 month phase out period.  


Now for paper bags, retailers would be required to charge 10 cents per bag starting one year after the plastic bag is enacted.

Last December, when I was visiting my sister-n-law in San Jose, I asked for a plastic bag to put trash in and to my surprise she told me San Jose ban the plastic bags.  That got me thinking...how many plastic bags do I really use?  After this LA Times article came out I realized that I have about four reusable bags of which two bags are currently being used to keep my son's collection of toy cars in one spot.  At my last grocery visit, I discovered that I use about 30-40 plastic bags! EKK! 

As of now, paper bags will stay at the grocery stores but paper bags could have the same fate as plastic.  

For more information on the Plastic Bag Law, click here.