.^ DEBATE Ba^atUe^ Should towns ban plastic bags? E very summer, residents of Long Beach, Calif., crowd the beaches, hoping to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf. The beaches aren't filled with just sunbathers, though—they're also littered with dirty plastic bags. To reduce pollution, the Long Beach City Council recently passed a ban on plastic sacks. The ordinance, introduced by Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, requires supermarkets, convenience stores, and pharmacies to stop providing plastic bags. It also requires stores to charge 10 cents for each paper sack. The ban goes into effect this July. Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, is not the only California city to can plastic bags. San Jose and Manhattan Beach recently passed similar proposals, and Sunnyvale hopes to pass one by the end of the year. Not everyone feels sunny about the bag bans. Some organizations argue banning plastic means people will rely more on paper, which might be worse for the environment because it is made from trees. Should plastic sacks be bagged? Here are the arguments being checked out on both sides. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Should towns ban plastic bags? Is it fair to charge people for paper sacks? Why or why not? Let us know at edce@weeklyieadei.com. Banning plastic bags would just cause other environmental problems, says the Save The Plastic Bag Coalition. People would use more paper bags, the group argues, which would increase deforestation. And manufacturing paper bags produces greenhouse gases. "Banning plastic carryout bags in Los Angeles alone would have the same annual impact on greenhouse gas emissions as adding between PAPER: SAFER THAN PLASTIC Plastic bags are hurting marine life, some experts argue. The bags are light, so they are easily carried by the wind and end up in the ocean. "Whales and large birds often swallow plastic carryout bags inadvertently during feeding, which become permanently lodged in the stomach," L.A. County's Department of Public Works states on its Web site. Plastic bag litter also strains the city's budget. Long Beach officials 27,753 and 63,832 passenger vehicles," the group's Web site states. Plastic bags might also be better for your health than reusable fabric ones, some people argue. At a Long Beach town hall meeting, teacher Richard Reid said reusable bags could contain harmful chemicals in the paints used on the designs. Another resident said that dirty reusable bags could breed bacteria. Besides, not all plastic bags go to waste, some consumers point out. People reuse the bags for bringing lunch to work or cleaning up after their dogs. Many stores across the country collect bags for recycling. If people forget to bring their own bags to the store, some shoppers argue, they shouldn't be punished by having to pay for paper ones. say. The city spends millions of dollars each year cleaning up marine debris, including plastic bags. And when beaches begin to look like landfills, the tourism industry is negatively affected. There is "lost revenue associated with people's perception of the city's beaches and shoreline, which affects our economic development, recreation, and tourism," the government of Long Beach stated in a news release. Recycling isn't helping the situation, say proponents of bag bans. In the United States, less than 5 percent of plastic bags are recycled, and more than 380 billion are thrown away every year, according to Don't Trash California. Some experts say trashing all those bags wastes oil and other fossil fuels used to make the plastic. weeklyreader.com 7 Copyright of Current Events is the property of Weekly Reader Corporation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.