Will the Plastic Bags Ban in L.A. City Going to Help the Environment?

The plastic grocery bags ban in L.A. City is definitely a huge step for the city environment protection. Some voices are saying banning plastic bags will hurt plastic bags industry production, even though the party cannot provide an estimate of job loss. The environmental cost is always a debatable topic in terms of economics, as we can neither see nor measure the envioronmental value that it's difficult to make a justification as a result. Can job loss of a certain sector be comparable with the environmental cost for the whole environment?
For residents and animals  who're sharing the city, the answer is obvious that banning plastic bags is a wiser choice.

LA City Council Districts (2012)

As plastics bags become more dominant in our daily life and make our life more convenient, we rely on them heavily in daily life. When we buy a bag of gum, unless we state we don't want it, the cashier will give us a bag to carry it. Is it necessary to have the bag for carrying? We take the gum out, throw the bag away in the trash can and end up the bag goes to the landfill. We take the benefit from using the bag to carry the gum for our convenience; in the meanwhile, however, we give our environment more pressure to "digest" the plastic bags. There is no a certain number for the plastic bags life span, while some says 500 or even 1,000 years for plastic bags to decompose.

Alternatives for carrying grocery items instead of using grocery plastic bags:

1. Just Don't Use Any Bags. Put All Items in the Cart till You Get to the Car.

This is the most eco-friendly way to minimize any extra unnecessary plastic consumption. If you feel inconvenient from taking every single item from the car trunk after getting home, prepare paper boxes in the car trunk and put the items in the box.

2. Get Reusable Container for Carrying.

 

Most people pick this option as an alternative. Reusable bags are as convenient as plastic bags and they can be reused multiple times. Price for reusable bags varies from $2 to $20, depends on patterns and liners.

 

For those who don't have a car, take a cart to carry the items will help.

Having the ban effective 2014, grocery plastic bags consumption will eventually decrease and as a result of longer landfill life span, while the plastic industry will have less production in grocery plastic bags. Having 6 months left for the policy to be effective, we can start take the action now to be more responsible to the environment.