LA may join in plastic bag ban

Handy container may soon be tough to find in California.

The little LOS ANGELES — plastic grocery bag, a staple in supermarkets and other retail stores since its introduction in 1977, may be headed for extinction.

The city of Los Angeles has taken the first step to banning the bags that, once discarded, have a nasty habit of washing up on beaches by the thousands, clogging storm drains and getting tangled in all sorts of stuff.

That raised the ire of environmentalists, who have been on a ban-thebag quest for years.

Now Los Angeles plans to join nearly four dozen other California municipalities in outlawing them, so the humble little polyethylene bag finally may be headed for the trash heap of history.

San Francisco already bans the bag. So do San Jose, Long Beach, Berkeley and Malibu.

But LA, with nearly 4 million residents, goes through an estimated 2.7 billion plastic grocery bags a year, according to city officials.

Environmentalists believe a ban here will have a huge impact and could even encourage the rest of the country to follow suit.

“This is a gateway for sustainability,” said Leslie Tamminen of the Clean Seas Coalition, which has pushed for the LA ban.

“This is meant to change consumer behavior and expand consumer consciousness.”