LOS ANGELES (AP) — Key California legislators have reached
an agreement that could lead to a statewide ban on carry-out plastic
bags at supermarkets, liquor stores and pharmacies by 2016, officials
said Thursday.
Lawmakers in Sacramento have debated similar
proposals for years, facing opposition from manufacturers that produce
billions of plastic shopping bags each year.
The agreement calls
for using $2 million for loans and grants that could help those
companies retrain workers and convert to manufacturing "a new generation
of reusable bags with the smallest environmental footprint," a summary
of the legislation said.
State Sen. Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles
Democrat who helped broker the deal, said it balances "the health of the
planet with the preservation of people’s livelihoods."
"It
bridges the gap and moves the economy forward into a green future," de
Leon said in a statement. "We will dramatically reduce the scourge of
single-use plastic bags … and at the same time grow jobs."
Los
Angeles and nearly 100 other cities and counties in the state have
enacted bans on single-use plastic bags at stores. If approved by the
Legislature, the bill would extend a similar prohibition across the rest
of the state. The local laws would remain in effect.
The bill
summary says supermarkets would have to stop using the bags by July
2015, and the ban would extend to smaller stores a year later. With
plastic bags prohibited, stores could sell recycled-paper or reusable
bags for at least 10 cents each.
Similar bans have been enacted in
other jurisdictions around the U.S., but California is a trendsetter on
environmental issues and advocates hope other states would follow its
lead.
In 2005, nearly 30 billion single-use plastic bags were
generated in California, according to the bill summary, a figure since
cut in half by city and county bans.
"We are going to go after
this legislation takes effect … to zero," said Mark Murray, executive
director of Californians Against Waste, an advocacy group. "That means
less litter, less pollution, less waste."
Mark Daniels, chairman
of the American Progressive Bag Alliance, an industry association
representing the plastic bag manufacturers, called the proposal "another
job-killing, big-grocer cash grab masquerading as an environmental
bill."
"Large grocery chains are pushing this bag ban … at the expense of their customers," he said
in a statement.
Cathy
Browne, general manager of bag manufacturer Crown Poly Inc. in
Huntington Park, outside Los Angeles, said imports dominate the reusable
bag market and the $2 million proposed for training and new equipment
would be "a drop in the bucket."
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