LA lawmaker seeks to ban paper and plastic bags . . .

[Bateluer]

Single use bags, to be specific.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grocery-bags-20110907,0,3498662.story

Hoping to reduce the billions of grocery bags circulating throughout the city, an L.A. councilman Tuesday called for a sweeping ban on single-use paper and plastic bags.

By including paper bags in the ban, the proposal goes beyond similar measures taken recently by other California cities and counties. Although L.A. County, Santa Monica and other municipalities have banned plastic bags in recent years, most have allowed stores to sell paper ones for a small fee.

"With paper bags, you're still generating litter," said Councilman Paul Koretz, who introduced the motion proposing the ban. "We're taking the next step."

Environmentalists celebrated the news and said they hoped that it would push Sacramento lawmakers to enact a statewide ban.

"We're thrilled," said Kirsten James, water quality director for Heal the Bay. "We're hoping that more of these local policies will be a wake-up call."

I've gotten a few canvas bags from Fresh and Easy and as race goodie bags, but I always forget them when I go grocery shopping. They're always sitting in my breezeway.

 

[her209]

Paper bags are biodegradable.

:hmm:

 

[paperfist]

Single use bags, to be specific.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grocery-bags-20110907,0,3498662.story



I've gotten a few canvas bags from Fresh and Easy and as race goodie bags, but I always forget them when I go grocery shopping. They're always sitting in my breezeway.

Eventually those will fail too so it's the same process no? I don't understand why we just don't reuse the stuff manufactures make. Billions of soda, ketchup, wine, beer, etc bottle can't be cleaned and reused?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Paper bags are biodegradable.

:hmm:

But they are made out of trees.

 

[Jeff7]

What needs to be done is to standardize the dimensions of reusable bags, so that they can fit onto things like the bag carousels at Walmarts, or other bag holders at stores. It takes an extra hand or two to hold the reusable bags open, which slows things down at the checkout.

* My only experience thus far with reusable bags are ones that my mom sews up out of old clothing. (They're quite nice, actually. Very strong and durable. ) If there is some kind of standard sizing out there, do tell.

 

[Newbian]

Plastic I can understand in major cities but paper bags are easy enough to dispose of and easy to use a renewable source for them.

 

[preslove]

But they are made out of trees.

Tree farms are awesome, & coupled with tree waste collection for a biomass power generator, aren't all that bad for the environment. A tree farm is land that is left to grow pine and then clear cut years after the last harvesting. Tree farms sequester a lot of carbon. The only real bad things about paper are the chemicals used at processing plants & whatever runoff into rivers results from them.

A friend of my mom's owns 2/3rd of the property around a lake in florida, with the remaining third being owned by a paper lumber company. You know what that means? It's just forest land that will be cut down in a couple years. And no neighbors . Oh, and Gainesville, FL's electric company just built a biomass generator that collects all the tree waste (branches and other wood that would once have been just burned because it wasn't valuable enough to ship anywhere) in that part of florida and then burns it for electricity.

The fruit and meat that you put into a paper bag are much worse for the environment than the paper. Plastic bags are terrible, and really should be banned/taxed. Banning paper bags is just idiotic.

 

[LTC8K6]

Cloth bags soon become a germy, filthy mess...

Most people don't clean them.

Plastic is totally recyclable. Paper is as well, plus it naturally biodegrades.

Some plastics also biodegrade.

 

[mmntech]

Studies have shown the cloth bags are harder on the environment than paper and plastic. Plastic bags can be recycled and are reusable.

But all that aside, is there really nothing more pressing in LA than shopping bags?

 

[Bateluer]

Studies have shown the cloth bags are harder on the environment than paper and plastic. Plastic bags can be recycled and are reusable.

But all that aside, is there really nothing more pressing in LA than shopping bags?

So, this is basically the typical 'feel good' legislation? Little practical value?

 

[LTC8K6]

Studies have shown the cloth bags are harder on the environment than paper and plastic. Plastic bags can be recycled and are reusable.

But all that aside, is there really nothing more pressing in LA than shopping bags?

Yes, they have much greater problems.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/09/07/leftover-labor-day-trash-feces-may-taint-la-water-supply/

Plus, some idiot is trying to ban home foreclosures.

http://businesslawdaily.net/2011/08/17/california-ballot-proposal-would-ban-home-foreclosures/

 

[KeithP]

But they are made out of trees.

Start making them out of hemp.

-KeithP

 

[ElFenix]

Plastic bags can be but mostly aren't recycled and are reusable but very few people do that.

fixed.

 

[BoberFett]

What if they aren't single use? I use paper bags for recycling and plastic bags for cat litter. They're dual use.

 

[Anubis]

Paper bags are biodegradable.

:hmm:

and plastic bags have more then one use

carry food
puck up dog/cat shit

 

[Jaepheth]

Just ban all bags and instead install a pneumatic delivery system to all residences (or blocks). It can double as a replacement to USPS Mail deliverers and save money and gas on that end as well. Hell, make them big enough and we can transport people too. No more cars!

It'll be like Futurama, only with a coffin shaped capsules... which makes funerals in case of accidents a breeze!

This idea has no downsides!

 

[JulesMaximus]

Start making them out of hemp.

-KeithP

That's cool with me.

I actually don't really give a shit about this. I get the plastic bags sometimes, I always keep them and use them to carry my lunch in or as liners for the small bathroom garbage pails.

 

[Bignate603]

Tree farms are awesome, & coupled with tree waste collection for a biomass power generator, aren't all that bad for the environment.

Actually, they're pretty lousy for the environment. Their goal is to get the forest to be reharvestable in the shortest period of time possible, so you end up with very little diversity among the trees that grow. The forest never reaches its climax state and much of the plants and animals that would live there in a fully developed forest never move in. Just because a plot of land has some trees on it doesn't mean its a healthy forest.

 

[lxskllr]

I like places like Aldi. I get to use the boxes their stuff ships in, and it's convenient to use as a recycling container. Plastic bags can fuck off along with carousel style bagging stations. Use the old grocery style conveyor, I'll bag, and we'll both get done quicker.

 

[Bateluer]

Plus, some idiot is trying to ban home foreclosures.

http://businesslawdaily.net/2011/08/17/california-ballot-proposal-would-ban-home-foreclosures/

Err, free mortgage?

 

[911paramedic]

I use my old paper bags as kitchen garbage bags, which makes them double use. Saves me from buying plastic garbage bags and using them once.

 

[Ichinisan]

I re-use the plastic bags all the time. They never go in the trash. I still usually don't have one when I need it.

 

[pcgeek11]

California. LOL!

 

[DrPizza]

The only time I ever thrown out a plastic bag without reusing it for something else was when it has a tear in it. Otherwise, virtually all of my garbage goes into one of the plastic bags. Every night, the garbage goes out. I don't understand people's desire to harbor 3 or 4 days worth of garbage in their kitchen before they fill up a kitchen sized garbage bag.

 

[gaidensensei]

Paper bags are biodegradable.

:hmm:

No place to biodegrade on the slums of LA. well... besides your backyard if you have a yard.