County Takes on Plastic Bag Menace, Sort Of

From the venerable China View:

BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) — In an effort to cut down on the amount of plastic grocery bags littering streets or ending up in landfills, the Los Angeles County board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan asking large grocers to limit the number of bags used during the next five years…

While the news reads on the surface as a positive and most of the stories are portraying it as such, the LA Times takes a stand with a justifiable negative spin on the Board’s decision, from their headline (“Plastic-bag ban unravels”) on down, emphasizing the watered-down nature of the agreement:

…officials chose the weakest of five alternatives recommended by county executives: a volunteer program that leaves it to supermarket and store owners to coax customers into packing their purchases in reusable containers.

While this might put us slightly up on NYC’s hedging on the plastic bag menace, our half-assed plastic bag reduction approach becomes just one more thing San Francisco can hold over us to feel even smugger (“Smugger?” Or “more smug”?–Ed. [Smugger –V. ]) with their city’s total bag ban plan.

But the good news is that ecofabulous is in this season, so now you can coordinate your concern for the environment to your outfit for a reasonable price.

Finally, with plastic shopping bags seemingly on their way out, there are only so many more opportunities you have remaining to witness American Beauty-esque moments of plastic-bag-based heart-caving-in beauty, so–please–do yourself a favor and seek them out now.