larger view

A plastic bag ban seems a bit tougher than San Francisco has made it look.

LA County Supervisors came out strong last year advocating their own ban. But after nine months of study by county staff, the Los Angeles Times reports today, supervisors have opted for a significantly weaker approach.

Under the new measure they adopted last night, a ban would go into effect only if the use of bags in the county’s unincorporated areas isn’t reduced by at least 30 percent by 2010 and at least 65 percent by 2013.

As we reported earlier this week, similar “targets’ are expected to come in a beefed up state law on plastic bags this year.

Under the state’s current law that took effect in July, large grocery stores and retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are required to sell reusable bag and providing plastic bag recycling bins. The same law prohibits counties or cities passing ordinances that would require shoppers to pay fees for plastic bags. However, the law doesn’t prevent local local governments from banning the bags.

Bakersfield city leaders took up the bag ban issue a few months ago but decided to delay action until they could assess the impact of the state law. Rick Kirkwood, who works in City Manager Alan Tandy’s office, told me last week he’s due to update the council on the law’s effectiveness in April.

So, what’s your take on the bags: Should they be banned? Should consumers pay for them? Or should we just leave things the way they are?

-- Posted by reporter Stacey Shepard