ConservingNow Community Change

This is the first article from contributor Ted of the Plastic Bag Ban Report.  You may remember that Conservingnow.com has started an incredible partnership with the Plastic Bag Ban Report, and this article is one of the many wonderful products of that partnership.  I am so excited to share Ted's article with you, as his writing is always interesting and informative.  I know you will agree!  Happy reading!  

City of Long Beach, CA Adopts Plastic Bag Ban
By Ted Duboise, Publisher Plastic Bag Ban Report

On December 7th, the City council of the City of Long Beach, California, USA, voted to adopt a plastic bag ban for the city.  Long beach is located in Los Angeles County on the Pacific Coast in Southern California.  Just over 492,000 people live in Long Beach.

Suja Lowenthal, Vice Mayor of Long Beach, in stating the reasons that a ban of single-use plastic bags was needed for Long Beach, said that plastic bags were only 1% of the waste stream but 25% of litter found county-wide.  Plastic bags are also responsible for floods by clogging drainage systems.  L A County has spent $21 million for flood control.

During the City Council meeting, many council members suggested more education was needed to educate citizens about problems caused by plastic bags before creating a ban.  Ms. Lowenthal responded that the city had been running a recycling education campaign for several years.

The State of California passed a recycling law (AB2449) a few years back.  In spite of the law, only 5% to 13% of plastic bags are recycled according to Marvin Rose, Director of Public Works for the City of Sunnyvale.  “You can’t recycle your way out of this,” stated Ms. Lowenthal.

“We have spent years and millions of dollars to educate people,” said Ms. Lowenthal.  L A County has been studying the impact of plastic bags for four years and the City of Long Beach City Council has discussed the issue for three years.

As adopted, the Long Beach plastic bag ban would take effect August 1, 2011 for larger retailers over 10, 000 square feet and $2 million in sale.  Six months later, the smaller stores would be required to participate; effectively, every retailer would be on board at that time.