GARCIA, LOWENTHAL & DELONG PROPOSE BANNING PLASTIC BAGS IN LONG BEACH
By Dave Wielenga
After jetting to Sacramento for a press event supporting state legislation that would ban single-use plastic bags in California, Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal has joined with Long Beach City Council members Robert Garcia and Gary DeLong in proposing such a ban—along with a charge for recyclable paper bags—in Long Beach.
The council members have placed their proposal, which is similar to a measure adopted last week by Los Angeles County Supervisors for unincorporated areas of the county, on the agenda for the Dec. 7 meeting of the Long Beach City Council.
4 Comments
Several years ago, City Council attempted to ban paper bags in a noble effort to save the trees. Previously Councilman Lerch expounded upon how this paper ban led to plastic bags. Have our esteemed City Council considered the unintended consequences of their actions? While this appears to be City Council’s attempt to modify the behavior of consumers, the brunt of this change will fall on retailers who must provide a more expensive alternative at difficult economic time. What prevents shops from giving away free paper bags, which create more air and water pollution than plastic bags?
Moreover, most commercially available biodegradable bags are based off a mixture of corn starch and petroleum-based polyesters. While they do biodegrade (which does solve the problem of cute large animals choking and drains clogging), it means that biodegradable bags are both competing with food supplies and polluting the environment with tiny molecular- and cell-sized bits of polyester. Little bits of plastic can be a huge problem at the base of the food chain, due to accidental ingestion by non-charismatic but ecologically critical animals like insects and earthworms.
While plastic bag bans MAY be a move in the right direction, a nuanced approach may be necessary to encourage people to reuse bags instead of simply switching types of disposable bags. Is our City Council considering this approach or are they going to repeat the mistakes of the Medpot ordinance by redoing the ban the bag ordinance every couple months?
Mr. Ruehle makes a good deal of sense here. Very often our elected Council seems to overlook or to consider but dismiss the potential consequences, unintended or otherwise, of some of the legislative actions it takes.
One such potential consequence in this case could be that grocers and consumers resort to the use of other sorts of bags that either pollute or cost more to produce (or both) or that possess a different sort of health risk of their own.
Another such potential consequence in this case could be that many in Long Beach may start spending their food dollars in neighboring cities that do not have such bans in place and where grocers will not be charging customers for bags or increasing their prices to accomodate their own increased costs.
Another such potential consequence of the cumulative effects of single use plastic bag bans is that as demand for this legal product diminishes, the plants that manufacture them are likely to close, putting hundreds or, perhaps, thousands of California residents out of work during a time when our state is already languishing under a 12.4% unemployment rate – the 3rd highest state unemployment rate in the nation.
I just don’t think we need to be enacting bans of legal products like these when consequences such as these, and many others, can be reasonably expected to result. Especially when our society might well achieve the same desired result without resorting to legislative mandates.
From a bigger-picture perspective, I strongly disagree with this propensity of many of those who serve in our local, state and federal governments to constantly seek legislative (e.g. government mandated) solutions to virtually every public policy challenge he or she perceives. I do not doubt that such people are well-intended, but in most cases legislative action is not required for many, if not most, of these issues.
A lot of bulimics will be rendered completely dysfunctional in their jobs without the easy acquirement of cheap plastic bags, as it will constantly force them away from their desks to settle matters, tying up what might be the only public restroom on their floor. Maybe some city council members can afford to buy their own plastic bags for this purpose, but many bulimics aren’t working for the city, so they don’t have the extra cash to throw about. Something about which one might assume Ms. Lowenthal would be far more sensitive. This is like Councilman Garcia outlawing tweezers. It just like a lack of sensitivity by those who should presumably know better.
I guess I’ve said my piece.
The MAJESTIC Plastic Bag:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw