Plastic Bag Manufacturers File Second California Bag Ban Ballot Measure

plastic bags

by | Oct 7, 2015

This article is included in these additional categories:

plastic bagsPlastic bag manufacturers have filed a second ballot initiative related to the California plastic bag ban.

In February, the American Progressive Bag Alliance’s ballot measure to repeal California Senate Bill 270 — legislation passed in 2014 to ban plastic retail bags and allow grocers to charge and keep 10 cents for each paper, compostable or reusable plastic bag provided to their customers — qualified for the November 2016 ballot.

If the manufacturers’ second proposal, filed with the California Attorney General’s office on Oct. 2, qualifies for the November ballot, voters will decide if they want to allow retailers to keep the 10-cent bag charge or redirect the fees to environmental project like recycling or beach cleanups, according to Plastics News.

“Our industry is proud to give California voters a chance to overturn a deeply flawed, job-killing law, or at least, ensure bag fees are dedicated to helping the environment instead of increasing grocer profit margins,” Lee Califf, executive director of the APBA, told Plastics News in an emailed statement.

Califf says SB 270 wasn’t about stopping plastic waste and improving the environment; but rather a “backroom deal between the California Grocers Association and their union friends to scam consumers out of billions of dollars in bag fees — all under the guise of environmentalism.” Califf says the law, if implemented, will kill 2,000 local manufacturing jobs and “funnel obscene profits to big grocers.”

Photo Credit: plastic bags via Shutterstock

 

 

Additional articles you will be interested in.

Stay Informed

Get E+E Leader Articles delivered via Newsletter right to your inbox!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Share This