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Plastic produce bags will be phased out of California grocery stores and supermarkets over the next two years.
The thin plastic bags are commonly found next to fruit and vegetables at supermarkets and are used to separate the items before check-out. But the ban also extends to bags used for unwrapped items such as meat, fish, nuts, grains, candy, and bakery goods.
“The average working life of a plastic bag is 15 minutes, and over 100 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year,“Californians Against Waste,an environmental advocacy group that sponsored billSB 1046, said in a letter on its website.
“Several studies have shown that contamination in compost waste streams decreases when consumers have convenient access to compostable bags,” it continued.
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Nick Lapis, the director of advocacy at the organization,said the thin bags are not recyclable and is considered a “contaminant” of any waste bin it is placed in.
“It flies around landfills and flies out of trucks,” Lapis said, according to theMercury News. “It gets stuck on gears at recycling facilities. And it contaminates compost. It’s a problematic product we want to get rid of.”
The outlet said the bill’s main opponent was the California Grocers Association
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“This contamination is a huge problem and creates microplastics in our compost, and also leads to more higher handling costs and higher rates for consumers at the curbside,” Nicole Kurian, Legislative Director at Californians Against Waste, told the outlet.
California shoppers who the news station spoke to seemed supportive of the ban.
“You see a lot of plastic on the streets,” one resident said, “That would be really nice to get rid of some of that.”
source: people.com
