Plastic bag litter and waste has been getting a great deal of attention in recent weeks. Some 19 billion single use plastic bags are distributed annually in California, and less than 5% are recycled.

And while the useful life of these bags is most often measured in minutes, these non-biodegradable petro-chemical balloons can often remain a blight on the environment and a threat to wildlife for years. That's why California Assembly Member Lloyd Levine has recently introduced legislation (AB 2058) requiring retailers and bag manufacturers to reduce and recycle plastic bag litter and waste by no less than 70% in the next three years or face a 25 cent per bag 'advance disposal fee'.

While plastic bag manufacturers and their partners in the petro-chemical industry have attacked the legislation as 'unneccesary and punitive', a shocking new video reveals that plastic bag manufacturers may indeed be behind a vast global conspiracy aimed at increasing the proliferation of plastic bag litter and waste.

I had intended to share this video on April 1, but I felt compelled to confirm the facts. I apologize for the delay, but I'm sure you will agree that there is an important message here for all of us to take to heart.

On Monday, the Senate Environmental Quality Committee advanced CAW sponsored legislation to expand California's Container Recycling Law.

Senate Bill 1625 (Corbett), will help reduce plastic litter, waste and marine debris by expanding California's successful Container Recycling Law to include all plastic bottles. When implemented, this measure will result in the recycling of more than 3 billion additional plastic bottles, reducing littered and landfilled plastic waste by 130,000 tons annually.

Managing plastic waste poses a growing cost burden on local governments. The collection and disposal of plastic bottles costs local governments and ratepayers in excess of $32 million annually. The increase in recycling as a result of SB 1625 will—at minimum--cut this disposal cost in half. What little plastic bottle recycling is occurring now is primarily being subsidized by local governments and ratepayers, at the rate of more than $16 million annually. SB 1625 will eliminate these existing costs to curbside recycling programs and instead provide curbside programs with more than $67 million in new recycling program revenue. SB 1625 and the resulting growth in recycling represents a net revenue benefit to local governments and curbside recycling programs of roughly $100 million annually.

On Monday, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee passed out CAW sponsored Assembly Bill 2058 by Assembly Member Lloyd Levine. This measure builds on the Levine initiated existing effort to reduce the use of one-time use plastic shopping bags in California.

AB 2058 would set a goal of 70 percent waste reduction for plastic bags and require retailers to charge an ‘advance disposal fee’ of not less than 15 cents per bag if waste reduction benchmarks are not achieved.

Opponents of the measure, representing plastic bag producers and large retail chains, argued that policy would increase costs to consumers. However, even a cursory examination of the facts indicates that a successful bag reduction strategy—even one that employs a per bag charge to motivate reuse—will result in a substantial net savings to California consumers and taxpayers.

It's reported that California uses about 19 billion plastic and 3.8 billion paper bags annually. The cost to retailers of providing these 'free' bags to consumers is about $680 million annually, and, like other overhead costs, is passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices on the products we buy. And it doesn't matter whether you're a consumer that always brings your own bag, or one that insists on doubling up on the plastic—we all eventually pay.

But the costs don't stop there. The cost of managing and cleaning up the more than 95 percent of one-time use plastic bags that become litter or are landfilled is generally borne by local governments and ultimately us as taxpayers. An analysis of these costs by the San Francisco Department of the Environment found that the cost burden in that city was approximately 17 cents per bag. Extrapolating those costs out for the entire state, and the total costs to local government and tax payers for managing plastic bag litter and waste is in excess of $3.2 billion annually (as Assembly Member Levine would say, that’s billion with a b).

Sierra Club California announced today the appointment of Bill Magavern as its new Director. Magavern has represented the group on pollution issues for eight years, and has led efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, improve air quality and remove toxins from consumer products.

Californians Against Waste wants to extend its congratulations to both Bill and the Sierra Club for this excellent appointment. For nearly a decade now I have had the pleasure of working with Bill as the Sierra Club's point person on waste reduction and recycling issues. Bill is an active, passionate and strategic advocate for resource conservation and environmental protection. The Sierra Club and the environment will be well served by Bill's leadership.