California grocers push for ban on plastic bags
30 Jun 2014
California grocers, who may net as much as $1 billion in new revenue from a 10-cent fee on paper bags, have joined environmentalists in a bid to make their state the first to prohibit single-use plastic shopping bags.
The retail and grocery lobbies, that had supported 13 failed California bills since 2007 to curb or ban the bags, are taking on paper- and plastic-bag manufacturers who oppose the restrictions.
The state filings show, that between them the two sides spent $366,000 to lobby California lawmakers in the first three months of this year.
Over 100 cities and counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco have clamped bans on plastic bags. Customers are expected to shell out a dime for each paper carryout sack, to encourage consumers to bring their own reusable bags, a proposal included in the state legislation.
According to Jon Berrier, a spokesman for the Washington-based American Progressive Bag Alliance, representing plastic-bag makers, this was an enormous cash grab on behalf of corporate grocery interests, Bloomberg reported.
He added, it was probably the largest transfer of wealth from the consumers of California to corporate grocery interests. He said it was a terrible piece of legislation and the association was confident that it would be defeated, just as its predecessors were.
