End Of Days Near For Plastic Bags in L.A.
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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed into law on Wednesday a ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery stores, liquor stores, and other establishments, making Los Angeles the largest city in the U.S. to have enacted such a ban.
Plastic bag rally at City Hall/via Flickr Creative Commons
The single-use plastic bag ban takes effect on January 1, 2014 for large stores grossing more than $2 million a year or larger than 10,000 square feet. Small stores must comply with the ban by July 1, 2014.
"The problem of plastic bags isn't just a L.A. problem," Mayor Villaraigosa said on Wednesday. "It's a California problem. But so far, our state leaders have not been able to find a workable solution."
"This will make for a cleaner, greener L.A."
Customers will now be required to bring their own reusable bags, or will be charged 10 cents per paper bag. Proceeds from the paper bags must be reported by the stores on a quarterly basis, but will be allowed to keep the proceeds to cover costs.
The city also plans on distributing one million reusable bags in low-income areas. Women on the federal WIC food benefit program will be exempted from the ban.
Opponents to the ban have argued that the mayor and City have ignored the facts, and that this ban "limits consumer choice, increases consumer grocery bills, kills local jobs and will do more harm to the environment than good."
Almost $2 million a year is spent on cleaning up plastic bag litter in Los Angeles, according to Bloomberg. Los Angeles joins Santa Monica and San Francisco as other major California cities to have instituted such a ban.
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