A plastic bag ban is certainly not something the Golden State senate wants considering the ruling on Wednesday. Republican Arnold Schwartzenegger, retailers and grocers all supported the band within the state. But plastic industry lobbyists went all out to defeat the measure. Plastic grocery bags are used by millions of individuals. Human health has turned into a concern since an incredible number of birds and marine animals are now being killed by plastic bags. Numerous think the bar 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
If the bill would have passed, stores in The Golden State would have to stop using plastic bags. The public began noticing plastic hazards making it so the bill came about, says the Silicon Valley Mercury News. Each 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 and every year. It costs the state $25 million to collect errant plastic bags and haul them to landfills. Since The Golden State has an $18 billion deficit, it doesn’t make sense to pay $1.7 million on the issue, according to American Chemistry Council which contains Chevron, Dow and ExxonMobil.
State politics bought with plastic industry
The American chemistry Council was very against the plastic bag ban in California. As outlined by the Miami Herald, the group is really in Virginia although it funds all of the opposition in The Golden State with environmental bills anything that is anti-plastic. The council paid off politicians in the campaign. Also, it paid for TV and radio ads to run. Seven state senators got donations in August from the council or from affiliates, including Hilex Poly Co., a plastic manufacturer in South Carolina, and Exxon.
Ban on plastic bags: yes or no
The California plastic bag ban was created to encourage shoppers to use reusable totes. Bans on plastic bags are already in place in some places in California. San Francisco is one of the places. 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. Republican senator Mimi Walters told ABC News that “If we pass this piece of legislation, we could be sending a message to the people of The Golden State that we care more about banning plastic bags than helping them put food on their table.”
Garbage Patch littering the Great Pacific
The total comes to about 3.96 million. About 90 percent of those were tossed. They were just thrown away. Retailers spend $4 billion a year on 100 billion plastic bags in the United States of America, says the Wall Street Journal. 10 percent of plastic accumulates in the ocean, says a U.N. study from 2006. The largest concentration is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s the size of Texas and contains about 3.5 million tons of trash.
Additional 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
