Sacramento Legislative House to Consider a Ban on Plastic Bags and Promote Discount Shopping Bags

Bans on plastic bags have been making a lot of news in various states in the US. In past four years, the awareness on the harmful effects of plastic bags has increased. As a result, several governmental agencies have either banned or restricted the usage of plastic bags within their premises. At present, the legislative house at Sacramento is considering a similar ban in their region as well.

The Assembly Bill 158 in Sacramento

The bill to ban plastic bags in the region of Sacramento has been named Assembly Bill 158. If this bill is passed by the legislative house members, the residents will have to use discount shopping bags for their mundane shopping needs. In addition to this, all the retailers in the vicinity will have to stop keeping plastic bags in their stores.

If this bill is passed, the shop owners will be allowed to use only paper bags in their premises, and these paper bags will have to meet the standards specified by the government. The retailers will only be allowed to use paper bags that have been made using 40 percent recycled paper. But industries that need to use plastic bags for the protection of their products will be exempted from the ban

The opinion of the officials on discount shopping bags

Even though many cities and counties have banned plastic bags within the US in the past few years, a lot of the officials in Sacramento region feel that a ban is not advisable. According to Senator Jean Fuller, a ban is not going to encourage the residents to use reusable bags. She feels that the fee that the customers will have to pay in order to buy paper bags will have a negative impact on the budget of the lower income groups.

But there are a lot of officials who are in support of the ban as well. Marc Levine, an Assemblyman, disagrees with Senator Fuller, as he feels that this ban will benefit the region. According to Levine, plastic bags and plastic waste in general occupy a lot of space in the landfills. Most of the major towns or cities within the US dispose their waste products in a handful of landfills. As a result, these landfills will be filled up at a fast pace. If the plastic bag bans are implemented in populous American cities, the life span of these landfills can be increased, and so Levine is in favor of this legislation.

Source: http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/Plastic-bag-ban-considered-statewide/ZoZtxkVueEWjH7zBKGYU4Q.cspx