The Plastic Bag Litter Reduction Act (now AB 2769) is on the Senate floor waiting for approval to move forward on a full vote. Your help is needed to urge leaders of the Senate to stand up to the plastics industry and pass a plastic bag bill this year. California can be the first state in the country to adopt an aggressive policy to reduce plastic bag pollution. Your phone calls and letters of support are needed TODAY!
Please call the legislative leaders urging them take the right action in addressing the problem of plastic bag pollution by supporting the bill. Also, send a letter of support to your Senator.
With your help, California can be the first state in the country to adopt an aggressive policy to reduce plastic bag pollution.
For the first time, California has the chance to pass the most aggressive policy to reduce plastic bag consumption. Under the proposed Plastic Bag Litter Reduction Act (AB 2769), large grocery stores and pharmacies would be required to charge a 25 cent fee for plastic grocery bags, the proceeds of which would be used for local litter abatement, cleanup and prevention programs. This fee-based approach has encouraged shoppers to bring their own resusable bags and has reduced plastic bag consumption in Ireland by over 90%.
However, the American Chemistry Council and bag manufacturers are digging into their deep pockets to fund a campaign against the Heal the Bay-sponsored bill. They are spreading misinformation about the environmental and societal impacts of reducing plastic bag usage. We can’t allow the American Chemistry Council and others to use their large budgets to spread misinformation to legislators and the public.
Call the three legislators who can move this bill forward letting them know that all Californians want to protect their community from plastic bag pollution. Also, send a letter to your Senator urging them to support the Plastic Bag Litter Reduction Act when it comes up for a vote!
Plastic Bag Litter Reduction Act — Myths vs. Facts
Myth #1: This proposed law is a tax.
Fact: This is NOT a tax, it’s “fee by choice”. You can CHOOSE not to pay 25 cents if you just remember BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag.
Myth #2: The proposed law will hurt low-income consumers
Fact: A plastic bag fee bill can actually help low-income consumers SAVE money and clean up plastic bag blight in their communities. Proceeds from the revenue can also be spent on reusable bag giveaway programs.
- Low-income communities are burdened by the blight caused by plastic bag litter in their communities. Los Angeles County spends $18 million per year on litter prevention, cleanup and enforcement activities—tax dollars that could’ve otherwise been invested in public safety, libraries and parks.
- The plastic bag industry is already making a profit off of low-income families that pay upwards of $18 per year in “hidden costs.” Each time you get a plastic bag at the grocery store, you pay 2-5 cents that is already embedded in the price of good
Myth #3: There is no need for this law because plastic bags are fully recyclable.
Fact: While plastic bags are recyclable, less than 5% actually get recycled despite aggressive efforts to educate the public and implement recycling programs. California currently spends $25 million per year to landfill plastic bag litter. The quantity of plastic marine debris is rising and WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO RECYCLE OUR WAY OUT OF THIS PROBLEM.
FAQs
How big a problem are plastic bags?
- Californians use more than 19 billion plastic grocery bags and merchandise bags each year, roughly 552 bags per person — and if placed end-to-end, enough to stretch around the globe over 250 times. This
usage generates 147,038 tons of unnecessary waste.
- California taxpayers spend $25 million to collect and landfill plastic bag waste each year. That figure does not include external
costs, e.g., resource extraction and depletion, quality of life issues, economic loss due to plastic bag litter and human health expenses.
- U.S. consumers use 100 billion plastic bags annually, which is the energy equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil. This equates to 60,000 plastic bags used every five seconds.
Will a fee on plastic bags push consumers to use more paper?
- No. The plastic bag fee is designed to push consumers to the best option—reusable bags.
- During manufacturing, both paper and plastic bags emit global warming gases, create water pollution and use raw materials and energy.
- Each high quality reusable bag can eliminate hundreds to thousands of plastic bags over its lifetime.
- Although most people are aware that paper bags are recyclable, only about 20% of them are actually recycled.
Aren’t plastic bags recyclable?
- Plastic bags are recyclable, however very few are actually recycled. Research conducted by the County of Los Angeles in 2007
found that this is largely due to the logistics of sorting, high contamination rates that reduce the quality of the recycled resin produced,
the low quality of plastic used in the bags, and the lack of cost efficiency due to lack of suitable markets for the recycled resin.
- A Los Angeles County survey of recycling and material recovery facilities found that over 90% of the plastic carryout bags taken
to these facilities were not recycled but instead taken to landfills for disposal.
Why is Heal the Bay concerned about plastic bag pollution?
- Besides fouling our public spaces with unsightly debris, plastic bags easily find their way to the marine environment through the
storm drain system.
- Plastic bags kill sea animals that mistake them for food or become entangled in them. 100,000 marine animals are killed annually by entanglement in marine debris such as plastic bags.
- Some areas of the Pacific Ocean contain six times more plastic debris than zooplankton (the fundamental base of our food
chain.) These tiny pieces of plastic are eaten by zooplankton and move up the food chain, potentially presenting health risks for humans.
- Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photo degrade. The bags break down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic, but never go away.
Support for Reducing Consumption of Plastic Bags
- Officials in China, Australia, San Francisco, Paris, and even Modbury in Britain have recently adopted comprehensive bag bans. South Africa, Ireland and Bangladesh are among the nations that have agreed to eliminate or heavily tax plastic shopping bags.
- Whole Foods announced plans to stop offering single-use plastic bags in all 270 stores by April 22, 2008.
- A "Day Without a Bag" on December 20th was a tremendous success, demonstrating significant public support for reducing the use of disposable plastic bags as tens of thousands of reusable totes were handed out throughout Los Angeles County. The day was supported by L.A. County, the City of L.A., over 25 other cities in L.A. County, and by dozens of environmental and community groups representing hundreds of thousands of members.
Benefits of Reusable Bags
- Fewer plastic bags littering our community.
- Significant cost savings to taxpayers-less money spent on litter cleanup, enforcement, prevention.
- Fewer impacts to the marine environment (marine wildlife, such as sea turtles and whales ingest littered plastic bags, which they mistake for food).
- Fewer natural resources consumed.
- Reusable bags are readily available and affordable.
Visit our Pacific Protection Initiative website to learn more about plastic bag debris and our legislation work to address the issue. |
