Los Angeles Considering Plastic Bag Ban

Heads up L.A., you're about to be hit with a plastic bag ban.  First and foremost, don't forget to thank your fellow citizens for being so (edited) lazy that this has to happen.  It's not just your neighbors, it's people in general.

But you should prepare yourself, because once it hits, it's a pain in the back bumper.

Now unlike where I live, this ban will impact those who sell perishable goods.  But regardless, here are some thoughts to consider...

First up,

Marathoners: 

Bring your own bags to the expo.  Sure, you get a bib bag, but it may not be big enough if you buy anything other than a small item or two.  And if you're hesitant to buy more stuff because it's a b* to carry, then the seller is the one that gets hurt.

I took note of this at the Wipro San Francisco Marathon.

Happenstance Shoppers: 

If you happen to be driving by a store and remembered that you need to buy a few things, well, how many people will keep going by the store because they remembered that they can't carry everything in their arms?

Keep a bag or three in your trunk.

But if you don't the store will be the one that loses out.

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Yep, it's a pain in the butt, but it's becoming necessary.

A local town in my neck of the woods considered not adopting the plastic bag ban, but the state then threatened to hit them up with a "required" environmental study that would have cost the city $100k if they didn't abide.

And that ten cent paper bag price... is not the store's call.  It's part of the law behind the plastic bag ban.

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So it's cloth or paper bags, all of which seem more costly to create, though the cloth ones will last longer.

Also, I'm not sure how much merit this has, but I saw a piece on needing to wash your cloth shopping bags because of the potential of collective germs over time.

So make sure you buy a good quality bag.  (I had received a freebie cloth bag from someone about a year or more ago.  I went to finally use it and it was coming apart at the seems.  All without my touching it!  LOL.  Hey, you get what you pay for I guess.)

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