Politics & Government

L.A. City Council Approves Plastic Bag Ban; Is Culver City Far Behind?

Culver City has been working on an ordinance to ban plastic bags for almost two years now. Mayor Andy Weissman says a proposal could be on the Culver City Council agenda as early as this summer.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-1 Wednesday to approve the implementation of a program to ban the use of single-use plastic bags and impose a 10-cent charge on paper bags at convenience stores and supermarkets in the nation's second-largest city.

A standing-room-only crowd filled the City Hall Council Chambers with the vast majority of the crowd consisting of environmentalists in favor of the ban on plastic bags. Supporters of the ban brought a little star power with actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a board member of the nonprofit group Heal the Bay, and actress Amy Smart, a Los Angeles native, urging the council to support the ban.

The council had been a considering a sweeping ban on both plastic and paper bags, but instead approved an amendment by Councilman Eric Garcetti that requires all retailers to charge 10 cents per paper bag starting one year after the program's enactment. The motion gave large retailers a six-month grace period to phase-out single-use plastic bags before their banishment, with a one-year grace period for smaller retailers.

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The council's action authorizes an environmental impact review on the bag ban that should take about four months to complete and will be followed by the crafting of ordinances that likely will be approved before the end of the year, officials said.

The motion also called for the city's Bureau of Sanitation to report back in two years with a progress report on the program.

Find out what's happening in Culver Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has advocated for the elimination of plastic bags in Los Angeles. He praised the vote in a statement released Wednesday.

"Today, City Council approved a motion that will move us one step closer to making Los Angeles a greener, cleaner, more sustainable city," Villaraigosa said in a statment. "The little things matter—removing plastic bags that clutter our streets and damage our waterways will go a long way towards protecting Angelenos and Los Angeles wildlife for generations." 

Other municipalities in California that have passed single-use plastic bag bans include San Francisco, , , , , Long Beach and Carpinteria. 

While Culver City has not yet implemented a ban, in November 2010, when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plastic bag ban in unincorporated areas, then Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta, backed by the Culver City City Council,. That ban went into effect July 1, 2011, at large stores and on Jan. 1, 2012, at smaller retailers.

Culver City Mayor Andy Weissman spoke with Patch by telephone following today's L.A. City vote. 

"It’s not a question of if [Culver City] will implement a plastic bag ban," he said. "It's a question of when." That 'when' could be as early as this summer, Weissman said, once the City gets through its budget negotiations in June.

"The City Council previously directed the City Attorney to begin drafting an ordinance to prohibit single use plastic bags in Culver City and that work has been ongoing," Weissman said. "We want to be certain that any ordinance we bring forth has a satisfactory environmental review and that our regulations have appropriate environmental support."

Weissman said he believed Wednesday's actions by the Los Angeles City Council "starts Los Angeles down the same environmental and ordinance drafting path that Culver City has been pursuing. I would expect that the subject will likely come before the Culver City City Council for consideration and discussion before the end of summer," he said.

Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper also told Patch via email he's very much in favor of banning plastic bags in Culver City, noting that the council, the public and the City Attorney have been working on an ordinance for the past two years. He reiterated Mayor Weissman's comments, stating, "That  ordinance will be carved out and brought to the council in the very near future."

Newly-elected City Council member Meghan Sahli-Wells ran her election campaign on a strong, environmental platform and that it was time to ban plastic bags in Culver City.

Sahli-Wells attended the L.A. City Council vote Wednesday and spoke with Patch via telephone shortly after the meeting. "I was out celebrating with people," she said, adding she was  "thrilled" by the L.A. City vote.

"Obviously it's time," she said. "This is something I've been working on in Culver City since 2010," she said, "and I'm hoping we can bring it to the [Culver] City Council soon."

Sahli-Wells said the biggest takeaway from the L.A. City vote was that there were many small businesses at Wednesday's hearing. "So many of them came out in support of this ban," she said. "It wasn't just tree-huggers."

She added the the L.A. County ban in 2010 was crafted with small businesses in mind. "It's good to know that there is strong business support [for a ban]," she said, "and it's important for people to know that."

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