I shop at Trader Joes, Ralphs, Albertsons, Gelsons, Jons. For differing reasons. Sometimes I go around the corner to the 99 Ranch Market. If I buy 4 items, they will pack them in 4 separate plastic bags. If I buy 11 items at Trader Joes, it goes in one bag. Therefore, I was happy to see……….
From the Sacramento Business Journal:
“Grocery bag recycling act clears legislature
Sacramento Business Journal – 11:17 AM PDT Thursday
The California Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill that would require grocery stores in the state to set up plastic grocery bag recycling programs.
The bill, which passed the Assembly on a 62 – 2 vote, calls for a plastic grocery bag recycling bin inside all grocery stores, reusable grocery bags to be available for sale to customers, and by July 1, 2007, requires all plastic grocery bags to be labeled “please return to participating store for recycling.”
Assemblymember Lloyd Levine, a Van Nuys Democrat, sponsored the bill.
“Californians use over 19 billion plastic grocery bags each year, creating 147.038 tons of unnecessary waste in our landfills,” he said in a press release. “With Californians throwing away over 600 bags a second, they are creating enough waste to circle the planet over 250 times per year.”
Californians Against Waste estimates state retailers generate more than 150,000 tons of plastic bags each year, less than 3 percent of which are recycled.
The bill now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be signed.”
Here in Van Nuys 
Sokrates-
You want to move from Portland to LA? Why?
Joking. I know that an actor needs to be here where the “action” is.
If I can help you, let me know.
Andrew
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At my neighborhood Trader Joe’s here in Portland, Oregon, you get a raffle ticket each time you bring your own bag(s). The weekly prize is a $25 gift certificate. While I don’t label myself a “progressive,” I do try to bring my own canvas bag(s) whenever I go shopping (although I have yet to win that darn raffle at TJ’s). I’ve acquired such bags at TJ’s, Whole Foods, and Citarella, a gourmet-foods market in NYC.
A woman here in Portland once noticed my Citarella bag and asked whether I was from NYC. Funny how things like that can be conversation-starters.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog, by the way. I’m an actor who’s contemplating an eventual move to LA.
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I don’t know if it’s Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, but one of them is going to plastic-only bags because it takes fewer resources to make the plastic bag, and they are just as recyclable as paper.
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Remember, it’s the folks who DON’T go online and read blogs that’re dropping their litter all over the Valley.
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Has your Trader Joe’s switched from paper to plastic bags? The one on Lake in Pasadena seems to have done it and I’m wondering why.
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99 Ranch Market caters to Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese. Like other aspirational groups in our nation’s history (I should know, being half-Greek), contemporary immigrant Chinese are especially fond of conspicuous consumption, as a stroll through the parking lot of a Valley Boulevard strip mall will clearly demonstrate. This probably extends to flagrant waste in packaging, so I would not be surprised if 99 Ranch has an official policy of using as many bags as possible.
It should not pass unnoted that Japanese firms are also notorious for wildly excessive packaging. Consumer Reports has given many a “Golden Cocoon” to various Japanese products. Considering the strong influence of Japan on the culture of Taiwan, and the relative dominance of Taiwanese among Southern California’s Chinese community, this further adds to the possibility that SoCal Chinese demand that their consumables be wrapped in as much polymer compound as possible.
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I remember after the big rainstorms we had here in 04-05 I went down to Beilenson (Lake Balboa) park and was walking down the trail along the creek. The creek had flooded after the rain, and now the water had receded to its normal levels. And there I saw it – thousands upon thousands of discarded plastic grocery bags hanging from the trees along the banks of the creek like Christmas ornaments. All of those bags came from city street runoff.
All I’ve got to say is, I hope the law makes a dent in the problem. The real solution is for people to not treat the city like a trash dump.
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Steve-
Thanks for the info.
Andrew
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L.A. homeowners can now put plastic grocery bags in the blue can for recycling: http://www.lacitysan.org/solid_resources/recycling/what_is_recyclable.htm
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