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State bag ban thwarted

May 31, 2013

bag banA ban on plastic grocery bags like that now in place in this county failed to move forward in the California Senate Thursday and is buried for the current session. (Sacramento Bee)

Similar to local prohibitions, the state bill, authored by Democrat Alex Padilla of Pacoima, would have outlawed the use of plastic bags for supermarkets and drugstores. Some supporting senators said passage of the proposal would help foster “good habits” among Californians.

A handful of Democrats opposed the bill, claiming their constituents need the bags for re-use, and GOP lawmakers suggested there were more important issues with which to deal.

Padilla said he won’t stop his quest for a bag-less society.

“I think there is an education campaign necessary,” Padilla remarked after the final 18-17 vote on his bill.


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Some thoughts on “saving the planet”:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c


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fewer people


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“Save the PLANET? We can’t even take care of ourselves!” – RIP George Carlin!


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It’s nice not seeing anymore birds flying around with bags on their heads………that was the reason for the law wasn’t it.


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The answer to your question:


NO.


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The bag ban is the stupidest legislative act in this counties history. Garbage in and Garbage out…


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agreed, the bill’s author has done much better work in the past. what was he thinking?


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It used to be, I’d go shopping & come home with 4 or 5 plastic bags. Those bags were recycled and used to scoop the dog poop, line bathroom trash cans, etc.


Now, I go to Walmart to shop since their bags are only $.50 each. I never remember to bring one, so I end up buying 2 bags to fit the same amount of groceries that would have fit in 4 or 5 of the other bags. Now, each of those blue Walmart bags probably contain enough plastics to make 8 or 10 of the other bags. That means each of my grocery trips is generating roughly TRIPLE the amount of plastics ending up in landfills.


This does not take into account that I now BUY trash bags to replace the duties previously filled by the plastic bags before the ban.


The end result of all of this foolishness is that plastic consumption/use/disposal has gone UP rather than down. This is a typical condition of over regulation.


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“The end result of all this foolishness is that plastic consumption/use/disposal has gone UP rather than down.” Citation? Do you have a credible link to back up your assertion, or are you just so upset at “over regulation” that you pull an assertion like this out of your neither regions? And why is it that you “never remember” to bring reusable bags? Do you have some agenda to try and make the idea of reusable bags a form of unspoken protest? To change a habit, one must make an effort, repeatedly and if you are really trying to make a new habit work, you make an honest effort. You almost make it sound like you are lazy and want to blame someone because you can’t get your act together; take some personal responsibility.

I almost never buy plastic bags; the last box of large garbage bags I bought, a 30 gallon size, was purchased over three years ago. My recycling bin, garbage bin and green waste bin in my kitchen are all durable plastic bins that I put a folded sheet of newspaper in the bottom, then after I empty them, I rinse them out and put a fresh sheet of paper in the bottom. The green waste bin for all of my compostable kitchen scraps has a lid, so little gnats or odors don’t seem to be a problem.

I seriously doubt that the use of plastic bags is UP; if you have evidence to support your assertion, please post it here, thanks.


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Advocating for ‘…personal responsibility.’ while arguing in favor of a government mandated blanket ban.


Interesting.


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Who said anything about banning blankets?


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I understand the reasoning behind the local ban but I think it is not just the wrong approach but counter-productive as well. Life has enough complications without trying to remember to bring a bag or two with you on a quick trip to the market. I keep a cloth bag in each of my vehicles so that it is there but forget to bring them with me into the store about half the time and ten cents is not enough savings to make me want to go back out and get one when I realize it.


I also reused the cheap plastic bags as trash can liners and am now buying them where I didn’t before. Your system doesn’t work for everyone for more than one reason and the water you use to clean your bins is wasteful as well.


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I learned about carrying my own bag(s) when I was living in France in 1973. There were none at the markets, no paper, pre-plastic. A high end shiny paper bag at a boutique maybe but that was it. 40 years later, here in the states, we are still grousing about being independant and don’t want to have to be tied to a cloth bag. Plastic bags are for cat poop and that’s about it. Oh, and for hiding the singles from my wife when I dispose of them.


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What happens in Europe should stay in Europe, after all, this is America. I say anyway, if you want to live like Europeans, go for it, drive your mini car/scooter, buy your government insurance, go shopping with your bags, whatever toots your horn, Me, my ancestors came here LEGALLY to get out of that mess. All this ideology from Europe costs lots of money and I am getting sick of the free society as are most Europeans paying those taxes high taxes.


Funny, we take about the bag ban in this County… Anyone been to Taco Bell, McDonalds, Subway, etc. Plastic and paper bags to go, please! So the plastic/paper bags distributed by small stores, restaurants, etc. is OK because??? lol


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So we can call you a Europhobe? We are only talking about plastic bags and I’m sure they have caused all of Europes socilized problems. To answer your question ” Anyone been to Taco Bell, McDonalds, Subway, etc. “….No, bad food unless you are constipated.


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You can call me anything you want, no problem. If you think we are only talking plastic bags you have your head buried up your arse. The UN which controls Europe is invading are lives on a day basis, be it what we eat, the bullets for our guns (since they figured out they are not taking American’s guns), what are health care will be like, trying to take control of our internet, drugs, our National Parks (called World Heritage and Biosphere Reserve – includes Grand Canyon), American coasts and waterways “Law of the Sea Treaty”, etc. This is not about the plastic bag ruse.


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Well, if not about plastic bags, then the UN. They hated John Bolton. I had the benefit of living close by, at 2nd & 39th where there is a McD’s, and working at World Bank. We are not well-liked and this started, by my 1st hand experience, in the 60’s.


Long time to be working at it A. I doubt if the average American could do in other countries what others do here. I’ve worked and lived in Canada, Mexico, France, Spain and Italy and we cast a long shadow, good & bad.


The plastic bag thing in some cases is a red herring. As far as the national parks, Oceano Dunes and other OHV parks are being attacked for a multiplicity of reasons. As part of this, I will say that we do not tread lightly. But, us being right or wrong, you can see it coming as you say.


So, at the highest level, what do we do?


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The UN which controls Europe LOL the UN gets credit for the defeat of Germany WWII other than that Europe is out of control .

and there are world heritage sites right out to the edge.


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Except that the whole “water wasting” thing is a fallacy. There is exactly the same amount of water on the earth as there always has been. It’s just an issue of people trying to do things where the climate is not really conducive to their water consumption desires. Building houses and water thirsty farms in areas where there is little naturally occurring water is bound to become a problem, then a fight. All the talk about the environment by people who live in arid lands and consume water extracted hundreds of miles away from once thriving ecosystems is nothing short of hypocrisy. Same thing for people driving any sort of petroleum powered vehicle and squawking about plastic bags.Bottom line is man is as much a part of the environment as any animal or plant and people may as well get real and realize that everything has some sort of impact. The ridiculousness of the plastic bag ban is shown by some of the remarks made by the other posters in that we now have to by plastic bags to make up for the ones that we used to reuse after buying groceries. I never ever thru away empty plastic bags, they always were reused for trash can liners which I now have to purchase.


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thank you, you may capitalize WATER. you can’t drink gold. let’s think of some movies.


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i was shocked when my parents took me to Phoenix in the late 50’s and saw the irrigation pipes and the groves


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“I never thru away empty plastic bags, there always were reused for trash can liners which I now have to purchase.”


I rarely throw away a plastic bag; on the occasion where I have one that was being reused and it has gotten slimy or whatever, then I will throw it away, otherwise, all of my plastics, be they plastic bags from any store, the produce/meat bags for drippy stuff, the plastic wrapping from toilet paper or any other plastic used as a wrap for a consumer product, I gather it all and take to a near by supermarket. Even though most of them no longer have the container at the front of the store to take plastic bags in for recycling, most of them will still take the plastic and store it up until they can make a bail of it to send to a plastics recycler.

As for the comments about me wasting water to rinse out my plastic garbage/recycle/green waste-compost bins; I don’t have a lawn, I have energy efficient appliances and rarely use more than the minimum amount of water that I can be charged for by the city of San Luis. I am very “water frugal” and I very aware of what can or cannot be recycled. And I always make sure I have bags with me when I go into a store to buy something; it is all just a matter of making it a habit.


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“Life has enough complications without trying to remember to bring a bag or two with you on a quick trip to the market”


Are you serious? Do you find it hard to remember to bring your wallet to the store too? Dress yourself before leaving the house? 20 years ago, most people didn’t have personal cellphones that they needed to remember to bring with them everywhere, but most people have adapted these days. This is just another one of those things. Yes, life is so terribly difficult when you forget your reusable bag, but you must adapt to survive.


Here is a tip: keep more than one bag in your car. you can apparently afford to have multiple vehicles, but not multiple bags? Enough places give out free bags that I have amassed about 20 and keep at least 10 in my car and never have a problem.


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Some people have a harder time than others adapting to change. Perhaps your children or grandchildren, assuming you have any, will catch on and not be so forgetful and inefficient.


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The ban is another bad law. Wish they would get rid of it here. Why cant we elect imteligent prople that make the laws against the manufacturers, not the distributors or consumers. If you don’t want plastic bags, make them illegal to make. But don’t allow them to be made and fine people for using them. Stupid laws come from stupid people. California has many to choose from.


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I think you are being extremely unwise to suggest that outlawing the manufacture of plastic bags is preferable to the current approach of allowing their use, but discouraging their over use. I think you would be wise to review your definition of “stupid.”


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Are plastic bags bad? Yes or no…. If they are, stop making them. Next… Oh but that’s stupid. You would rather have government employees wasting time trying to figure out how to profit from bad? That’s smart? Oh… I see. You must be one of those who gets paid to be smart.


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If their use was not outlawed, but their manufacturing was, then we’d have to deal with all the out-of-state / out-of-country imports coming in.


It is a ridiculous law, and I believe is only one of those “toe-in-the-water” for seeing how much control we’re going to just take from them. If environmental concerns were the real reason, they could have just mandated that all “disposable” bags be biodegradable bags – but no, they have to just control us by limiting our choices and options w/o any real concern for the environment.


This is what happens when you brainwash ignorant people to limit themselves to knee-jerk reactions when certain keywords are used. I’ve actually met people who think this will “save the planet” – what morons.


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From my understanding those plastic bags from the grocery were biodegradable. The reusable ones they sell are not.


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Maybe he ought to try to put the plastic bag over his head. He will most likely get more attention. Just don’t leave it on too long. God Bless


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actually, in stdying this guy’s record, he’s not bad. smart & has had some good legislation passed. wonder why he got obsessed with the plastic bags, he’s got bigger fish to fry. i’m a third party guy but i could see voting for him.


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A handful of Democrats opposed the bill, claiming their constituents need the bags for re-use YES, FOR KITTY LITTER, and GOP lawmakers suggested there were more important issues with which to deal. NO KIDDING


Padilla said he won’t stop his quest for a bag-less society. GUESS THAT WAS HIS MAIN PLATFORM ELECTION PROMISE THAT IS NOW BROKEN.


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Well, if his platform was putting the legislation up, he did that. Wiser heads prevailed, he just needs to wait until we’re collectively “stupider” and elect like candidates, then he’ll try again. Gotta give him that.


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based on what he has done this was so much below him. hard to understand.


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Common sense is the genius of humanity.


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