Supporters In The Business Of Plastic Beat The Golden State Plastic Bar
Wednesday was the day the Golden state senate decided not to bass a plastic ban. There were many individuals that supported the bar in The Golden State. These contain grocers, Republican Arnold Schwartzenegger and retailers. Lobbyists for the plastic industry were hoping the ban would go through. Plastic grocery bags are used by an incredible number of people. Plastic bags are killing millions of birds and marine animals because they can’t degrade. That is why human health problems are now being raised. Those opposed to the ban on plastic bags in California think it just gives consumers a burden.
The California plastic bag issue
If the bill would have passed, stores in California would need to stop using plastic bags. The Silicon Valley Mercury News made a report on the bill. It said that the bill came along since the public began to be concerned about plastic garbage hazards. Each and every year, 1 million plastic bags pollute the San Francisco Bay. This was explained by Save the Bay. Each year, Californians use 19 billion plastic bags. This was shown by state officials. The state spends $25 million a year just to collect these plastic bags. Chevron, Dow and ExxonMobil are all integrated in a group called the American Chemistry Council. This group thinks there shouldn’t be any kind of change since the state, with an $18 billion budget deficit already, will have to pay $1.7 million for it.
Plastic industry buys state politicians
The American Chemistry Council led the opposition to the California plastic bag ban. According to the Miami Herald, the group is actually in Virginia although it funds all of the opposition in California with environmental bills anything that is anti-plastic. The council paid off politicians within the campaign. Also, it paid for TV and radio ads to run. Seven state senators got donations in August from the council or from affiliates, including Hilex Poly Co., a plastic manufacturer in South Carolina, and Exxon.
Why and why not with the plastic bag ban
There was one purpose in the California plastic ban. It was to get shoppers to start using reusable totes instead of plastic bags. Some California cities, including San Francisco, already have such plastic bag laws in place. The bill was authored by assemblywoman Julia Brownley who explained to ABC News that changing habits of shoppers is a better approach than cleaning up the mess. It was told ABC News. This originated from Republican Senator Mimi Walters who said that “If we pass this piece of legislation, we can be sending a message to the people of California that we care more about banning plastic bags than helping them put food on their table.”
The Great Pacific filled with the Garbage Patch
The Environmental Protection Agency estimated 3.96 million tons of plastic bags were produced in 2008. About 90 percent of those were tossed. They were just thrown away. Retailers spend $4 billion a year on 100 billion plastic bags within the United States, says the Wall Street Journal. A U.N. study from 2006 stated that 10 percent of the world’s plastic accumulates in the ocean. There is one place where the concentration is very high. It is called the Good Pacific Garbage Patch. There is about 3.5 million tons of trash about the size of Texas there.
Find more details on this subject
Silicon Valley Mercury News
mercurynews.com/ci_15927563?source=most_emailed and nclick_check=1
Miami Herald
miamiherald.com/2010/08/26/1792991/californias-plastic-bag-ban-opponents.html
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/US/california-votes-plastic-bag-ban/story?id=11526792 and page=1
