Santa Monica Enables Bag Ban - MD & VA In the Hunt!

This just in...

I have good news and I have GREAT NEWS - the good news is that we (okay, I) are having trouble keeping up with all of the news of municipalities banning single-use plastic bags (gotta call my contacts at the ACC to stay dialed in!), the GREAT NEWS is:

LA coastal burgh Santa Monica debated a ban and decided to actively look into it just about two years ago, and on Tuesday they voted to now (after a hitch caused by lawsuits threatened by the plastics industry) go through with it - to take effect in September of this year. NYCE!

California's patchwork of bag bans continue to sweep the state with Calabasas (think Topanga North) considering the option next week. Local environmental groups led by Surfrider ally in the anti-bag movement, Heal the Bay, are now drawing a bead on the Cit of Los Angeles. INCOMING!

The LA Times article quotes Mark Gold of HTB, "... local governments are going to address this critical issue despite threats from industry and state inaction. The plastics industry knows the writing is on the wall." ...Ya know, I think I've seen that wall - and I believe that the first word written there starts with "F"? ...or maybe it was a "B" (as in "Ban!") - those letter can look similar when scrawled... ;)

On the opposite coast and on the same day as Santa Monica's doin's, the Washington Post Op/Ed told Maryland and Virginia to push forth on placing fees (that have worked so well in DC) on their ubiquitously trashy "urban tumbleweeds". Most excellent.

This is shaping up to be a verrrry niiiice new year!