LA Bans The Plastic Bag

Plastic bags: faithful transporters of groceries, liners of wastebaskets, pickers-up of dog crap and inspirers of late nineties Hollywood screenwriters, now banned from grocery stores by the Los Angeles City Council. But why?

Reason.tv's Kennedy paid a visit to LA City Hall to find an answer to that question. Council members stood by the ban, despite being confronted with evidence that bag bans have no discernible effect on the health of the environment and make up less than 1 percent of California's waste stream.

"When you're looking at 1 percent, that's a huge difference," says Councilman Alarcon, who voted for the ban.

Reason contributor Jay Beeber points out that a similar ban in San Francisco failed to reduce the small number of plastic bags actually littering the street.

"This is just feel-good legislation," says Beeber. "It's not going to solve any problems, but it makes people think that we've done something."

Still, council member Tom LaBonge feels that he served his district well by outlawing plastic bags at grocery stores.

"That one percent [of plastic bags in the waste stream] pollutes the river," says LaBonge. "You want to go out to the river with me? I'll show it to you."

Approximately 4:43 minutes.

Interviews by Kennedy. Shot and edited by Zach Weissmueller.

Visit http://www.Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube Channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes live.

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  News & Politics

[augustc4]

Keep it up California, utopia is just around the corner! lol.

[jjmdirector]

OH Yeah, The city of LA is running a 200 Million Dollar Deficiet and they are going to tell YOU how to be responsible!

[benwoo]

Kennedy, I was a mere 13 year old burning with teenage angst during your peak at mtv, scarred by the death of Kurth Cobain and painfully dorky, short and young for you to date when you were 22, I'm now a grown 6'1, 31 year old man now. Divorce you're husband please so we can finally embrace our fates that were always meant to be !

[benwoo]

Kennedy, I was a mere 13 year old burning with teenage angst during your peak at mtv, scarred by the death of Kurth Cobain and painfully dorky, short and young for you to date when you were 22, I'm now a grown 6'1, 31 year old man now. Divorce you're husband please so we can finally embrace our fates that were always meant to be !

[Ravi Unhelkar]

I love how idiot leftists/liberals never win arguments on the basis of facts, reason and logic. They always point the finger and say that you are a "shill" for X industry or Y corporation instead of refuting or dismantling points piece by piece. Typical cultural Marxism.

[publicanimal]

They're "shills" for free enterprise and free markets. That includes allowing businesses to decide what type of bags to put their products in for their customers. Nothing is stopping anybody from bringing their own bags to the grocery store at places that use plastic bags, and nothing is stopping stores from using paper bags or not offering bags.

[Johnny Pappas]

I'd love to know how much the Koch Brothers and the American Chemistry Council contribute to Reason. When did you become shills for the plastics industry?

[MrEroshan]

you guys are losers, what the fuck did you do before plastic bags?

[Boredpersons55]

You know, banning plastic bags would save the entire planet. The ENTIRE PLANET.

[Maelyn Quijano]

this is a huge problem! but lets be honest people-- if you really want to save the planet,dont support the meat,egg and dairy industry!....

[zivjax]

So, who's providing the new bags? Who's getting kickbacks under the table from the paid-off politicians?

[zivjax]

Idiot "leaders" acting like little demi-gods in their play universe. Throw these people out of office, folks. They want you to be slaves to them. They themselves never shop, so they don't know squat.