City Council unanimously approves Reyes’ motion to ban plastic bags in Los Angeles
As Los Angeles residents, we have been whining, fighting, and writing letters to City Council and waiting for news on this new proposal, long in the making. Today’s news has everyone hoarding their plastic bags for the day we have to leave the city to get one. San Francisco has already been on track with this and more large cities are sure to follow.
Ed P. Reyes’ motion to ban polystyrene food containers in all City facilities beginning July 1, 2009 was unanimously approved by the City Council today.
What kind of environmentally responsible bloggers would we be if we didn’t include this hot new music video from The Abe Lincoln Story on an occasion like this?
The City Council, by a 13-0 vote, also approved an amendment introduced by Reyes today that bans plastic bags by July 1, 2010, if the State has not imposed a fee of at least 25 cents by then.
“Plastic bags have been the graffiti of the L.A. River for decades,” said Reyes, who chairs the L.A. River Ad Hoc Committee.
The plan requires officials to replace food containers made of polystyrene — commonly known by the brand Styrofoam — at city-owned facilities such as Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), public libraries, the Convention Center and City-sponsored events.
“We’ve gotten to a point where we need to act as a city, where we can have real results. We’re trying to do it in a way where we can educate and inform the public of what we’re doing,” Reyes said. `”It’s going to take time to change.”
After the citywide ban of plastic bags July 2010, consumers will have to use their own canvas bags or pay 25 cents for a paper, compostable or biodegradable bag. Of that fee, 3 percent would go to the retailer, 3 percent will go to the state, and the rest of the money will go back to the city to fund an education campaign.
The plastic bag and polystyrene bans complement the ongoing Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, spearheaded by Reyes, which proposes transforming 32 miles of the concrete-lined River into a greenbelt linking communities.
Read and listen to more coverage on this issue at Uprising Radio.
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