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Spencer Irby, a Chico State business major, struggles with his groceries after
forgetting to bring reusable bags to the store. Photo by: Whitney Urmann
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California legislators have announced that the law banning plastic bags will be put on hold until November.
On Feb. 26, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that lawmakers had decided the state ban on plastic bags would be put into effect in November rather than July of this year because opponents had qualified a referendum against the ban.
Mark Murray, founder of the non-profit advocacy group California v. Big Plastic, said after the announcement that plastic bag companies have spent over $3.2 million to campaign against the law.
“These companies say that the plastic bags don’t actually cause environmental harm, but it’s not true,” Murray said.
According to a study done at Chico State in 2011, reusable bags use 50 percent less energy and 30 percent less water during manufacture than plastic bags.
Even though the statewide ordinance is on hold, many California cities already have bans in effect and plan on keeping them—including San Luis Obispo, Sebastopol and Chico.
“The council has had no discussions on that subject,” Chico Mayor Mike Sorensen said. “I have given it no thought, instead focusing on repairing the financial devastation from when the city nearly went into insolvency, and rebuilding public safety.”
Chico’s bag ban was proposed in 2011 and put into effect in August of 2014.
Vice Mayor Craig Morgan said that if the council was asked to repeal the ban then he believes that it would be repealed, however he doesn’t see anyone doing that and thinks the citizens are used to the ban at this point.
“There has been a plastic bag ban in SLO for as long as I can remember,” said Billy Vedrin, a Chico State business and project management major. “When I came to Chico, I just assumed it was like that everywhere. My mom made sure I had my reusable bags.”
Some citizens in Chico don’t buy into the ordinance and believe it’s just a phase.
“Everything gets banned at one time or another,” said Kasey LeVine, a Chico resident. “If I remember correctly, there was an ordinance that banned paper bags and now I buy one of those nearly every trip to Safeway.”
Currently, no grocery stores in Chico use plastic bags. The Chico Mall has announced that its stores will be soon to follow.
By Whitney Urmann
By Whitney Urmann