Los Angeles has become the largest US city to move toward stopping the flood of thin-film carrier bags handed out free at retail outlets. The city council voted 13 to 1 to phase out the one-trip bags, a step already taken to varying degrees by 47 other California cities, including San Francisco, San Jose, Long Beach, Berkeley and Malibu. Foes of throwaways – which include many clean-water advocate groups – are wary, however. Before a ban can be implemented, the city must pass an ordinance compelling retailers not to hand out the bags. While a positive vote is expected, some opponents have threatened a legal challenge to the legislation.

The first step toward the ban will be a four-month environmental review. If this upholds the merits of the council’s plan, the bags would be phased out at about 7,500 stores over a 10-to-16 month period. Larger retail outlets would have six months to implement the phase-out, smaller stores would have 12 months. According to one estimate, 2.3 bn single-trip plastic bags are handed out in Los Angeles annually. The city tried recycling plastic bags at curbside but the costs are said to have far outweighed any environmental benefit.

Analyses conducted by the city and other non-profit organisations showed that the single-trip bags cost Los Angeles consumers and taxpayers an estimated USD 75m or more annually in the form of more expensive groceries and pollution clean-up expenditure. A number of US film and music stars have lined up to support the ban, including such well-known names as Julia Roberts, Jeff Bridges, John Cusack, Peter Fonda, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt.

Plastic bag bans appear to be gaining popularity elsewhere in the western US. The state of Hawaii has now banned plastic grocery bags, although it will be 2015 before all the legislation takes effect in every county.