A California plastic bag bar was rejected by the state senate on Wednesday. The state had supporters for the ban from Republican Arnold Schwartzenegger, grocers and retailers. Plastic industry lobbyists wanted the ban to pass. You will find now many people who use plastic grocery bags. Human health has changed into a concern since millions of birds and marine animals are now being killed by plastic bags. Many think the bar in The Golden State on plastic bags shouldn’t go via. This is because consumers shouldn’t have to deal with that burden.
Plastic bag issues in California
Plastic bags be allowed in stores in California anymore if the bill passed. It would be the first state with the ban. The public started noticing plastic bag hazards making it so the bill came about, says the Silicon Valley Mercury News. Save the Bay explained that San Francisco Bay gets 1 million plastic bags polluting it each year. Each and every year, Californians use 19 billion plastic bags. This was shown by state officials. Collecting plastic bags for landfills costs the state a lot. In fact, it costs about $25 million a year. Chevron, Dow and ExxonMobil are all integrated in a group called the American Chemistry Council. This group thinks there shouldn’t be any kind of change since the state, with an $18 billion spending budget deficit already, would have to pay $1.7 million for it.
State politics bought with plastic industry
In California, the plastic bag ban has opposition. This originated from the American Chemistry Council mostly. Any environmental bills and anti-plastic city ordinances that have opposition are funded by the group. The Miami Herald explains the business is actually in Virginia, although it funds to California. The council paid off politicians in the campaign. Also, it paid for TV and radio ads to run. The council has two affiliates that helped with donations that are Hilex Poly So., which is a South Carolina plastic bag manufacturer, and Exxon. Between the three in August, seven state senators got donation checks from the group.
Plastic bag ban: why and why not
There was one purpose in the California plastic ban. It was to get shoppers to start using reusable totes rather than plastic bags. Some California cities, including San Francisco, already have such plastic bag laws in place. Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, who authored the bill, told ABC News that it would be easier to change consumer habits than try to clean up the mess. It was told ABC News. This originated from Republican Senator Mimi Walters who said that “If we pass this piece of legislation, we can be sending a message to the individuals of The Golden State that we care more about banning plastic bags than helping them put food on their table.”
Garbage Patch within the Great Pacific
The total comes to about 3.96 million. 90 percent of those were thrown away. Retailers spend $4 billion a year on 100 billion plastic bags within the United States of America, says the Wall Street Journal. In 2006, the U.N. did a study. It showed that 10 percent of all plastic end up at the bottom of the ocean. There is one place where the concentration is really high. It is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s the size of Texas and contains about 3.5 million tons of trash.
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Silicon Valley Mercury News
mercurynews.com/ci_15927563?source=most_emailed and nclick_check=1
Miami Herald
miamiherald.com/2010/08/26/1792991/californias-plastic-bag-ban-opponents.html
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/US/california-votes-plastic-bag-ban/story?id=11526792 and page=1
