Santa Monica delays plastic bag ban

The Santa Monica City Council has put off deciding on introducing a new ordinance that would put a complete ban on "single-use" plastic bags in the city at all stores, during the Tuesday Feb. 19 meeting. The Times reported that five council members plan on drafting and approving the plan. The ordinance was pushed by environmental group Health The Bay, which is located in the city. The organization monitors beach water quality up and down California's coast.
According to the organization, the ban that is being considered (which is recommended by the city's staff), is a far-reaching and comprehensive approach to the problem of single-use plastic and paper bag consumption:
The ban would:
• Ban the free distribution of single-use plastic (including biodegradable plastic) carryout bags.
• Require all retailers to charge a fee on single-use paper bags.
In the past months, China, Australia and cities throughout California have proposed or adopted plastic bag bans.
Heal The Bay also states that: http://www.healthebay.org/actionalerts/2008_02_05_SMbaghearing/default.asp
• Just 25 Santa Monica grocery stores and food markets use approximately 23 million plastic bags each year. Californians use more than 19 billion plastic grocery bags and merchandise bags each year, roughly 552 bags per person — and if placed end-to-end, enough to stretch around the globe over 250 times. This usage generates 147,038 tons of unnecessary waste. • California taxpayers spend $25 million to collect and landfill plastic bag waste each year. That figure does not include external costs, e.g., resource extraction and depletion, quality of life issues, economic loss due to plastic bag litter and human health expenses.
• U.S. consumers use 100 billion plastic bags annually, which is the energy equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil. This equates to 60,000 plastic bags used every five seconds. Read the update at LA times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-santamonica20feb20,1,20861.story