Concluding the long odyssey of one of the most contentious bills of 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed legislation phasing out the single-use plastic bags that grocery stores and other retailers use to package products at the checkout line. Brown’s assent hands a sweeping victory to environmentalists and vindicates the scores of cities and counties that have already banned bags.Well how generous of them, we get to protect our groceries from meat juices.
“This bill is a step in the right direction – it reduces the torrent of plastic polluting our beaches, parks and even the vast ocean itself,” Brown wrote in a signing message. “We’re the first to ban these bags, and we won’t be the last"...
Implementing the law will reverberate through multiple industries, shifting how retailers and manufacturers do business. Consumers will face a choice: purchase a reusable bag, or pay at least ten cents for a paper bag or a multi-use plastic carrier that meets a set of state durability standards...
Single-use bags will disappear from checkout aisles slowly. Larger stores will need to cease offering them by July of 2015, with convenience stores and other smaller businesses facing a July 2016 deadline. Proponents of SB 270 believe that time line will allow stores to deplete the stocks of bags already on hand.
But even when the law blankets every store, it will not mean the end of plastic bags. Consumers can still swaddle their fruits and vegetables in plastic or use bags to shield leaky meat.
I wonder about the health considerations from reusing bags for food. How much of California's (almost non-existent) water will be spent laundering all these reusable bags?
Update, 10/1/14: Here in the People's Republik we will be forbidden to use plastic grocery bags, but on the plus side, at least our police will be allowed to conduct surveillance with drones without search warrants!
California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that would have required the police to obtain search warrants to surveil the public with unmanned drones.I'm living in a nightmare.
Brown, a Democrat facing re-election in November, sided with law enforcement and said the legislation simply granted Californians privacy rights that went too far beyond existing guarantees. Sunday's veto comes as the small drones are becoming increasingly popular with business, hobbyists, and law enforcement.
3 comments:
On Amazon, 1000 bags for $26.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025W9ALG/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
On a visit to San Francisco a couple of years ago, I decided to take advantage of the yummy eats available at the Ferry Place Market and make a lunch for my flight home. As I reached for a bag from the roll provided, I noticed all of the other shoppers bagging their baby greens (displayed in large cartons) in their own bags (as I do at my home farmers' markets), the vendor asked me if I was going to eat them right away. When told that it would be an hour or so before I would put them in the hotel refrigerator, for use the next day, he whispered that he was required (I don't know if by city or county)to provide only compostable bags and that the composting process would begin within minutes; on my delicate greens. He snuck a real bag to me, under the table. Sheer idiocy.
So what happens when tax revenue drops as point of purchase or impulse sales drop? There's a good reason every wrap stand from Macy's to Home Depot has a selection of add-ons available for purchase. Also, what happens when folks from out of town visit? Does one think to pack cloth reusable bags when going to visit Grandma? If the state of California was serious about reducing waste, they would stop printing ballots and state documents in 17 languages and stick to just one. By the way, I don't think Cali's illegal immigrant population is doing their share-any roadway stop between CA and points east are trashy to the max. I doubt that will change.
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