California may soon follow in the footsteps of its largest city: On Aug. 29, the state Senate voted 22-15 in support of a statewide ban on plastic bags. The bill, SB 270, will phase them out in grocery stores and pharmacies beginning in July 2015, and in convenience stores one year later, with the goal of making California a plastic bag-free state by the end of 2016. The legislation, which passed both houses of the state legislature, must now be signed by the governor. If that happens, the state will achieve a historical victory for the environment.
The good news? The governor plans to sign it. “I probably will sign it, yes,” said Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat. “In fact, I’ll tell you why I’m going to sign it; there are about 50 cities with their own plastic bag ban, and that’s causing a lot of confusion,” he remarked, referencing the similar plans in place in areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco. “This is a compromise. I’m taking into account the needs of the environment, the needs of the economy, and the needs of the grocers.”
In agreement was Senator Kevin de León, a Democrat from Los Angeles, who stated, “SB 270 is a win-win for the environment and for California workers. In crafting this compromise, it was imperative to me that we achieve the goals of doing away with single-use plastic bags, help change consumer behavior, and importantly, support and expand California jobs.”
That last note clashes with the words of Republicans, who have opposed the ban, claiming it will cause job losses for bag manufacturers. But such an assertion suggests a misunderstanding of the legislation, which will not do away with non-plastic bags; compost bags and paper bags will continue to be available, albeit for a ten-cent fee per bag. There is a strategy to that, as well: The goal is to encourage the use of recyclable and biodegradable materials and to give California manufacturing a boost by encouraging the continuous production of such bags. Hardly a jobs killer.
Leslie Tamminen, director of Seventh Generation Advisors, a sustainability and clean energy advocacy group based on Native American philosophy, said, “Data from the over 121 local plastic bag bans [in California] has proven that bans are effective at reducing litter and changing consumer attitudes, and have refuted industry’s claims of apocalyptic impacts on jobs and poor communities. A state plastic bag ban saves taxpayers huge amounts of money spent on litter cleanup, and protects the environment.”
It’s worth noting that other nations have already moved forward on this issue, with the U.S. current lagging behind; Ireland, Taiwan, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Australia all have heavy taxation or outright bans of plastic bags, according to National Geographic. It is likely the countries have recognized the severe ecological threat presented by plastic bags, which non-profit environmental group Heal the Bay referred to as “urban tumbleweeds.”
Charles Tyler, a professor at the University of Exeter School of Biosciences in the UK, added, “Scientists have shown that some of these chemical compounds from plastics,” which affect human health, “are getting into the environment and are in some environments at concentrations where they can actually produce biological effects in a range of wildlife species.”
David Barnes, a marine scientist with environmental research group the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, England, said scientists have linked the uptick in plastic bag consumption with a dramatic increase in the deaths of sea life over the years. He remarked, “One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics. Plastic bags have gone from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere.” Today, “even in [some of] the remotest of environments, there is plastic floating on the sea surface. … And I bet [plastic bags] will be washing up in Antarctica within the decade.”
Photo: CAWrecycles.org
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