SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California State Assembly passed a bill last week to ban all single-use bags from being handed out free of charge in the state’s supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores and liquor stores. The measure now goes to the state’s Senate and then to the Governor. A spokesman for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he supports the bill.
“Californians will signal to the nation its commitment to wean itself from a costly plastic and paper-bag habit that is threatening marine life and spoiling the natural beauty of this state,” says State Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica), who introduced the bill. Taxpayers spend $25 million a year to clean up and dispose of the bags, she adds.
If the bill is passed in the Senate and signed by the Governor, it will take effect in 2012 and require shoppers who don’t have their own bags with them to purchase paper bags or reusable totes, for a minimum cost of 5 cents per bag. The bill goes further to require that the paper bags be manufactured with a minimum of 40% post-consumer material.
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