Second of two parts
Re “Look, Ma, It’s Empty, Eriksson Says of Plastic Bag Ban”
Strong words from Culver City businessman Goran Eriksson on the “lesser” route that the City Council chose on Monday evening in approving the community’s first single-use plastic Bag ban.
He elaborates on what he said yesterday about the Council selecting the least demanding option in addressing the contentious issue of certain plastic bags fouling the environment.
“I believe they chose this route,” Mr. Eriksson said, “because L.A. County had done an Environmental Impact Study, and they were enormously scared in change anything in that study because they didn’t want to pay for their own study. Or they didn’t want to expose themselves to lawsuits.
“The problem is, the L.A. County study was done in 2007, 2008, and they based their decisions on that.
“Since the County implemented their plastic bag ban, they have done studies where they concluded that the use of produce bags that you find by the fruits and vegetable displays, has gone up 40 percent. That was not included in the County’s EIR.
Law Changes on New Year’s
“Also,” said Mr. Eriksson, “when the County dealt with this, there was a state law that said it was illegal to charge for plastic bags. That law sunsets in December of this year. By Jan. 1, stores will be able to charge (the 10 cents, as stipulated by the County and by Culver City’s City Council) for plastic bags.
“But on Monday night, the city should have gone one step farther. They should have encouraged people to recycle, educated them to recycle and implemented a recycle program, while allowing stores to charge 10 cents for a paper bag or a re-usable bag. This would have given people choices.
“If they had done that, we probably would not have seen an increase in the uses of a produce bag. We will most likely not see an increase in buying trash-liners, which are heavier plastic.”
Mr. Eriksson made a projection that may chill the activists who cheerfully applauded the Council’s decision:
“The use of plastic bags is not going to go down. It is going to increase – if any of the studies from around the world can be relied on.
“This is a step backwards,” Mr. Eriksson reasoned, “because now people think we have done something.
“We have not done anything.”
Mr. Eriksson said that City Hall should realize it needs to educate and do outreach to the community about the vital responsibility of recycling. “We need to become more focused on the re-use and recycling of all materials we are using,” he said.
Bans by the government send the wrong message. “Bans don’t encourage individual responsibility,” Mr. Eriksson said. “I am much more for letting individuals take responsibility for their lives.”
Mr. Eriksson may be contacted at ge@esitechtrans.com
