BAN THE BAG IN CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Millions of pounds of trash find their way into our oceans every day. Urban runoff carries the detritus of daily life – whether it's carelessly discarded bottle tops or potato chip bags – directly to the shores. From abandoned fishing gear to plastic bags, this trash turns pristine waters throughout the world into garbage dumps. Some of the first things we need to do in order help images like below become something of the past. This may seem like somthing you'll never see but when you paddle throught the water when you are bodysurfing , diving or surfing you realise this is amajor problem because you either have a plastic bag attched to your hand or snagged on your Board leash. These are not things you want to see when you are doing thing that you love some of the solutions is to switch to CFLs, or eat organic, or switch all of your products to eco-friendly formulas, or buy reusable water bottles.
"OR" another solution is to email or snail mail The los angeles mayor to ask him to start sign into law the ban of plastic bags. They are already banned at certain parts of Santa monica. Its going to take a bit for people to get into the habit to bring your own reusable bag to the shop but itll be worth it. Courtesy of HEAL THE BAY here is a sample letter you cabn send to our mayor asking him to ban plastic bags simply copy put you own info in and sent it off
November XX, 2011
The Honorable Mayor Villaraigosa
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3239
Via Fax: (213) 978-0650
RE: SUPPORT – Single-use Bag Ban
Dear Mayor Villaraigosa:
I write to urge your support of a single-use bag ban as soon as possible in the City of Los Angeles. The action would complement your recent successes to green Los Angeles, such as passage of the Low Impact Development Ordinance and the sewer rate increase. The Board of Public Works recently unanimously voted to move forward a proposal to ban single-use bags in the City of Los Angeles, and a Council motion called for the same policy. You have been an effective champion of this issue statewide, and now is the time for Los Angeles to set an example for the entire nation.
The environmental and economic impacts of single-use bag pollution in inland and coastal communities throughout our City are devastating. Californians use an estimated 12 billion single-use plastic bags every year. The City of San Francisco estimated that to clean up, recycle, and landfill plastic bags costs the city 17 cents per bag. This figure does not include all of the energy costs associated with producing single-use bags, or the negative environmental, economic and public health costs associated with single-use bag litter.
We cannot recycle our way out of this problem. Despite efforts to expand recycling programs, less than 5% of single-use plastic bags are currently being recycled. The rest of these bags end up in our landfills or as litter, clogging stormdrain systems, and making their way to our waterways and ocean. The Los Angeles River you are fighting so hard to revitalize is lined with plastic bag-filled willows after a major rain. Plastic lasts for hundreds of years in our environment and may never biodegrade in the ocean. As a result, it poses a persistent threat to wildlife. Paper bag production contributes to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and waterborne wastes from the pulping and paper making process.
Los Angeles County, Long Beach, Calabasas, Santa Monica, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County, Marin County, Fairfax, and Palo Alto have banned plastic bags and dozens of other cities in California are considering this approach. If the City moves forward with a ban, the State will soon follow.
The City of Los Angeles has a critical role to play in becoming a true leader in eliminating single-use bag waste and preventing the proliferation of plastic pollution in our communities. Thus we urge you to lead the effort to move forward a single-use bag ban expeditiously in the City of Los Angeles to help fulfill your goal of the cleanest, greenest big city in the nation.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
- Seattle City Council proposes plastic bag ban (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Will Glendale Be the Next City to Ban the Plastic Bag? (laist.com)
- People Who Make Plastic Bags Want You To Like Plastic Bags (seattlest.com)
- Battle of the bags? Peek at proposal to ban plastic, charge for paper (westseattleblog.com)
- Bag Ban: Is San Francisco Scared of Substantive Legislation? (blogs.sfweekly.com)
- Long Beach plastic bag ban goes into effect (abclocal.go.com)
- Huntington Beach moves closer to plastic bag ban (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
- Soon You May Pay Fifty Cents Every Time You Say 'Double-Bag It' (sfist.com)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 6:00AM
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