AB 1998, which would prohibit stores from providing single-use carryout bags for customers beginning in 2012, was approved yesterday by the California Assembly with 41 votes, the minimum needed.
Environment California, a big backer of the bill, held five press conferences Tuesday and organized a phone campaign to assembly representatives on the fence. The campaign now moves on to the Senate.
According to the bill’s author, 41st District Representative Julia Brownley, Californians use over 19 billion plastic bags annually (approximately 552 per person), while only 5-6% of plastic materials are recycled in California.
Brownley’s website noted that:
The California Grocers Association and the United Food and Commercial Workers joined a long list of supporters of AB 1998 today, taking a sound, fair and effective approach to eliminating single-use bag litter, which pollutes oceans, beaches, parks and communities and endangers wildlife.
Petroleum products are fouling the oceans before they are refined and manufactured, and afterwards as well. The “disposable” consumer culture they foster needs to change, and this is a step in the right direction. Yesterday’s blog post on single-use bags has links to inspirations and ideas for reducing use of plastics.
A lot of this comes down to creating new habits. It’s similar to the California seat-belt law that passes sometime in the 1980s. That took me a while to become automatic. But once you get use to something new, it becomes much easier.