Los Angeles County goes plastic-bag free


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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to ban plastic grocery bags in some parts of Los Angeles County, including Altedena, Valencia and Rowland Heights, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The bag ban does not extend to the 88 cities in L.A. county, however.

The ban passed 3-1, with support from Supervisors Gloria Molina, Mark Ridley-Thomas, and Zev Yaroslavsky.

“Plastic bags are a pollutant. They pollute the urban landscape. They are what we call in our county urban tumbleweed,” Yaroslavsky said.

The ban will prohibit grocery stores from using plastic bags to carry out groceries. The exceptions are bags for fruit, vegetables and meat.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said smaller companies would not be able to afford paper bags, the alternative to plastic bags.

“At a time of economic uncertainty, with a large number of businesses leaving our state and community this would not be an appropriate time … to impose this additional regulation,” Antonovich said.