Heal the Bay Blog

They float down the street like tumbleweeds, get stuck in trees and wrap around fence posts, flapping like tattered flags in the wind. You know what we’re talking about: Discarded plastic bags.

We want to tell their story, and we need your help. Because we believe that in a sea of text, it’s often photographs that catch our eye. We ask you to submit to us your own photographs of plastic bags that you find in their unnatural habitats.

You can share your plastic bag images on Twitter, Flickr and Instagram using the tag #BagBanCA, and on Facebook by posting them to our Fan Page. We will be reposting them here and collecting them to present to the State Senate. Your photos are automatically entered to win a free “California, Sack the Bag” T-shirt!

Californians use an estimated 12 billion single-use plastic carryout bags a year, and due to their lightweight nature and the fact that they never truly biodegrade, these bags often end up as litter. This is not just a coastal or beach issue: We encounter them as litter in schoolyards and our parks, and if you’re really unlucky, you’ve discovered them wrapped around your car’s exhaust system.

Over 100 California cities and counties have led the charge in banning plastic bags. And now the California legislature has the opportunity to eliminate plastic bag waste statewide by passing Assembly Bill 298. This bill will create a uniform California policy by phasing out single-use plastic bags in supermarkets, retail pharmacies, and convenience stores statewide and encouraging consumers to bring reusable bags, the most sustainable alternative. We don’t want to just tell state legislators that this legislation is important to Californians; we want to show them why passing this bill is necessary.

It’s time to use photos to tell the story about plastic bag pollution in your neighborhood.

A California bill that will prohibit stores from distributing single-use plastic carryout bags, passed through the State Senate’s Environmental Quality Committee with a 5-2 vote on Monday, July 2, just in time for International Plastic Bag Free Day.

The bill, AB 298, still has several steps to go through in the California legislature, which is on recess until August, but the vote is good news. (Ed. Note: AB 298 did not pass the state senate.) Look for Heal the Bay action alerts this summer as we build our efforts to support the bill, which would also require recycled paper carryout bags to be sold at supermarkets, retail pharmacies, and convenience stores throughout the state.

More than 45 municipalities, including the City and County of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Long Beach, Fairfax, San Jose, Watsonville, Solana Beach, and Santa Monica have adopted or are considering a single use bag ban. AB 298 will sew together this patchwork of ordinances, creating a uniform policy that will make it easier for both retailers and consumers.

Beyond their environmental impact, plastic bags remain a huge economic problem in California, with Californians using an estimated 12 billion single-use plastic bags every year. In 2008-2009, the L.A. County Flood Control District alone spent more than $24 million for overall litter prevention, cleanup and enforcement efforts. Single-use plastic carryout bags are disproportionately responsible for these costs as their lightweight nature makes them more likely to end up as litter on our beaches, parks and roads.

For example, while they only comprise 0.4% of the waste destined for landfill, plastic bags make up as much as 25% of the litter stream, studies show. The cleanup costs do not reflect the energy costs associated with producing single-use bags, or the negative socio-economic, public health and environmental costs associated with single-use bag litter.

Always on the vanguard, California is poised to play a critical role in becoming a true leader in eliminating plastic bag waste and preventing the proliferation of plastic pollution in our communities.

Learn more about the California plastic bag ban.