California's Senate has voted down a measure that would have banned plastic bags at grocery stores.
The new ban was rejected by a 21 to 14 vote late Tuesday. The ban would have included grocery stores, convenience stores and drugstores.
The California Assembly passed the legislation in June.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had said he would have signed the measure into law, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club encouraged Californians to contact their state senators to push for the measure.
The group Heal the Bay produced what it calls a "mockumentary," narrated by actor Jeremy Irons, called "The Majestic Plastic Bag" that charts the life of a plastic bag. The video is on YouTube.
The measure had its opponents, too.
The American Chemistry Council criticized California Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, who proposed the bill.
"Assemblywoman Brownley's inflammatory comments are obviously intended to distract public attention from the substance and dire consequences of Assembly Bill 1998," the group said. "Her proposed legislation to ban plastic grocery bags in California ... is bad for the economy and bad for the environment: It will eliminate several hundred California manufacturing jobs and dismantle existing plastic bag recycling programs."
According to its website, the chemistry council represents companies that "make the products that make modern life possible, while working to protect the environment, public health, and the security of our nation." In this case, that includes plastic bags.
Brownley said she was disappointed with the vote.
"This is a sad day for California," Brownley said. "Communities across the state were waiting for the state to adopt a uniform, statewide ban on single-use bags before they adopt their own ordinances. The state failed them."
Brownley has been fighting to reduce plastic bag waste for three years, calling single-use bags "an unnecessary scourge that blows like urban tumbleweeds into every corner of the earth."
Her bill gained support from the California Grocers Association, which decided to back the bill after Brownley agreed to subject all stores that sell groceries to the ban.
I'm ing glad. We have the worst deficit seen in decades, and these in' liberals want to dictate how I can and can't shop in a grocery store? HIPPIE FILTH
couch-potato
quote:
Originally posted by Zharen
I'm ing glad.
lol
Sushipunk
quote:
Originally posted by couch-potato
lol
:haha:
leph555
Most of the upscale stores moved on from plastic bags already
Zharen
quote:
Originally posted by leph555
Most of the upscale stores moved on from plastic bags already
That's fine. If stores choose to become "environmentally friendly" then all the power to them. My problem is from an inept legislature drowning our future in red tape trying to mandate this in every store in CA. BS. Fix the more important issues first.
Zharen
quote:
Originally posted by couch-potato
lol
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by Zharen
That's fine. If stores choose to become "environmentally friendly" then all the power to them. My problem is from an inept legislature drowning our future in red tape trying to mandate this in every store in CA. BS. Fix the more important issues first.
I agree with this. Banning plastic bags when so much other is even more ed up is utterly ing stupid. We had a Democratic law-maker, here, who wanted to launch an official inquiry into a Republican law-maker because he served beer to under-aged kids (18-20 y.o.) at a fund-raiser. There are bigger priorities than that.
I'm ing glad. We have the worst deficit seen in decades, and these in' liberals want to dictate how I can and can't shop in a grocery store? HIPPIE FILTH
Try the politics forum you cheap irresponsible person you.
There are alternatives such as bringing in a cloth bag, or alternative bag types. (bags that take less than 1000 years to break down.. aiming for a year or so is probably the lower limit you should be aiming for)
100 billion bags is a lot of freken bags when 95 of them go to garbage dumps 3 billion end up on the streets and 2 billion get recycled.
Getting rid of all that garbage down the road is going to cost more and take up more land to store. It is a down the road cost. When there are more economical replacements over the long term.
Check this fun fact "There is a spot 1000 miles off the coast of San Francisco called the Garbage Patch. It is about twice the size of Texas and can go as deep as 300 feet."
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by ********
Try the politics forum you cheap irresponsible person you.
There are alternatives such as bringing in a cloth bag, or alternative bag types. (bags that take less than 1000 years to break down.. aiming for a year or so is probably the lower limit you should be aiming for)
100 billion bags is a lot of freken bags when 95 of them go to garbage dumps 3 billion end up on the streets and 2 billion get recycled.
Getting rid of all that garbage down the road is going to cost more and take up more land to store. It is a down the road cost. When there are more economical replacements over the long term.
NOT the point.
Halcyon+On+On
William, your numbers are slightly skewed, as usual. At least 5 billion bags go between that little space that separates my refrigerator and the kitchen counter, all wadded up and inside of one another.
couch-potato
quote:
Originally posted by ********
w_ashley
quote:
Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
William, your numbers are slightly skewed, as usual. At least 5 billion bags go between that little space that separates my refrigerator and the kitchen counter, all wadded up and inside of one another.
