Beverly Hills Considers How to Ban Plastic Bags

Get your reusable cloth and canvas bags ready for your next trip to the market. Beverly Hills is one of the county's cities slated to halt the use of plastic grocery bags.

In November 2010, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to ban single-use plastic grocery bags. The message was simple: “No store shall provide to any customer a plastic carryout bag.” The board also approved a 10-cent surcharge on paper bags.

The Beverly Hills City Attorney's office is reviewing the county’s 800-page policy outline on the ban, according to Environmental Utilities Manager Shana Epstein. She said the city is awaiting recommendation of how it should enact and enforce the legislation, which will in turn face approval by the Beverly Hills City Council sometime in fiscal year 2011-12.

The phaseout is scheduled begin July 2011, starting with large supermarkets and pharmacies that fall within the board's jurisdiction. By January 2012, some 1,000 stores are expected to have made the switch, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Times reported that about 6 billion plastic bags are consumed in L.A. County each year. That’s about 1,600 plastic bags annually per household. Less than 5 percent of those bags are recycled.

Beverly Hills staff is "working with Los Angeles County and other municipalities in the region to draft a program that is consistent with what other cities are doing," city spokeswoman Therese Kosterman said. The city's goal is to make the transition "as simple as possible for our businesses to implement.”

voluntarily ditched plastic grocery bags nationwide in 2008, Whole Foods-Beverly Hills Marketing Manager Ellen Prager said.

“Our customers are great and really supported the ban," Prager said. "It is a simple thing people can do to lessen their carbon footprint. Since banning the plastic bags, we have probably kept over 200 million bags out of landfills or the ocean."

Beverly Hills' new pharmacy, SuperCare Drug at 220 N. Canon Drive, also nixes the plastic bag. Owner Tom Lee said customers at his original Malibu location appreciate his no-plastic-bag policy, so he implemented the ban at his second store in Beverly Hills. (Stop by and welcome Lee to the neighborhood if you get a chance.) My SuperCare purchase went straight into my purse.

The ubiquitous plastic shopping bags have been called “urban tumbleweed,” picked up by the breeze, getting caught in our trees, and finding their way to our gutters and storm drains, which lead directly to the beach and ocean. Just take a look down your own block or in the alley behind your home and you're bound to see a bag or two (or three or four). Together, we can help to change this scenery.

Follow Patch and The Green Files for updates to see how Beverly Hills is smart about the environment.