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Los Angeles Mulls Plastic Bag Ban

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Apr 11, 2007 6:43 am US/Pacific

Los Angeles Mulls Plastic Bag Ban

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to study a ban on petroleum-based plastic shopping bags.

Supervisors Yvonne Burke and Zev Yaroslavsky asked the Department of Public Works to determine the pros and cons on banning petroleum-based plastic bags, and assessing how paper and plastic bags are recycled within the county.

"It is a very interesting and a very challenging problem that we have," said Donald Wolfe, director of Public Works.

"Plastic bags are a major source of pollution, basically with trash strewn in our public ways and on private property, and a very important issue with respect to water quality in Los Angeles County because of the number of bags that wind up in the waters."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates Americans use 380 billion plastic bags a year. Only 20 percent of paper bags and just 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled.

Biodegradable plastic bags, typically made from corn or potato starch, can have less of an impact on the environment.

Marine creatures choke on, or get caught in, discarded plastic bags, which is one the reasons San Francisco's Board of Supervisors banned them.

San Francisco residents can recycle the biodegradable bags alongside food waste in special curbside bins. Los Angeles County does not offer curbside recycling, and the city of Los Angeles does not recycle food waste.

"We're not saying that one thing is the solution," Burke said.

"When you start something like this, people start thinking and they start trying to realize that they're concerned about Los Angeles being green."

Evelyne Michaut of the Natural Resources Defense Council called the study an "important and necessary step."

"The study needs to take a serious look at the existing waste collection infrastructure. The reason why this was doable in San Francisco -- and we'll see the results -- (is) they have an existing food waste collection and citywide composting system."

"Is the green waste collection here effective? And could it be expanded to food waste? If it is expanded to food waste, would the composting system being able to process the bio-bags?"

Jennifer Forkish of the California Grocers Association said the feasibility study is "premature."

"The impacts of the ordinance passed by the city of San Francisco are nowhere close to being ready for evaluation," Forkish said.

"While it can be evaluated superficially, the impacts on the environment and consumers, as well as the true and real impacts on industry are incapable of being measured in 90 days."

The Department of Public Works will to submit a report in 90 days.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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