The ruling on Wednesday shows one thing. The California state senate doesn’t want the plastic ban. The state had supporters for the ban from Republican Arnold Schwartzenegger, grocers and retailers. There was one group fighting for the ban. This the plastic industry lobbyists. Use of plastic grocery bags has rapidly increased worldwide. Human health has changed into a concern since an incredible number of birds and marine animals are now being killed by plastic bags. Numerous think the ban in The Golden State on plastic bags shouldn’t go through. This is because consumers shouldn’t have to deal with that burden.
Issues in California with plastic bags
The bill would have made California the first state in the United States of America to ban plastic bags at grocery, drug and some convenience stores. The Silicon Valley Mercury News made a report on the bill. It said that the bill came along as the public began to be concerned about plastic garbage hazards. Every year, 1 million plastic bags pollute the San Francisco Bay. This was explained by Save the Bay. 19 billion plastic bags are used by Californians, says the state official, each year. It costs the state $25 million to collect errant plastic bags and haul them to landfills. Yet the lobbying group American Chemistry Council, a coalition of corporations including Chevron, Dow and ExxonMobil, said the plastic bag ban didn’t make sense because it would cost $1.7 million to implement in a state with an $18 billion budget deficit.
Purchasing state politician votes from plastic industry
The American Chemistry Council led the opposition to the California plastic bag ban. The Miami Herald reports the group, based in Virginia, has turned into a fixture in California where it funds opposition to environmental bills and anti-plastic city ordinances. The council paid off politicians within 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.
Ban on plastic bags: yes or no
There was one purpose within the Golden State bar. It was to get shoppers to start using reusable totes instead of plastic bags. Bans on plastic bags are already in place in some places in California. San Francisco is one of the places. Changing consumer habits will do better than cleaning up the mess. This is the opinion on assemblywoman Julia Broenley who authored the bill, says NBC News. Mimi Walters, republican senator, explained to ABC News that “If we pass this piece of legislation, we could be sending a message to the individuals of California that we care more about banning plastic bags than helping them put food on their table.”
The Good Pacific Garbage Patch
The EPA estimated 3.96 million tons of plastic bags were produced in 2008. 90 percent of those were thrown away. According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States goes via 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually at an estimated cost to retailers of $4 billion. 10 percent of plastic accumulates in the ocean, says a U.N. study from 2006. The largest concentration is called the Good Pacific Garbage Patch. There is about 3.5 million tons of trash about the size of Texas there.
Further reading
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
