Plastic Bags

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's giant Popocatepetl volcano may generate lava flows, explosions of "growing intensity" and ash that could reach miles away, the National Center for Disaster Prevention said Monday. Officials were preparing evacuation routes and shelters for thousands of people who live in the shadow of Popocatepetl, located 40 miles southeast of Mexico City. Officials have created a 7.5-mile restricted zone around the cone of the volcano. Popo, as the volcano is known, has displayed a "notable increase in activity levels" in the last few days, including tremors and explosive eruptions, according to a statement from the federal government.

SACRAMENTO - Releasing his latest budget plan this week, Gov. Jerry Brown repeated his assurance that the tax hikes voters agreed to last fall were enough, that he won't ask them to dig deeper into their pockets any time soon. "We just got a nice tax," he said. "I think we ought to take a deep breath and show how we are spending it in a wise way before we start looking for more money. " But even before Brown spoke, lawmakers were testing him. They have been forging ahead with proposals to tax Californians more - on every can of soda, cigarette, plastic grocery store bag and bullet.

Re "L.A. OKs ban on plastic bags at checkout," May 24 It's troubling to see the Los Angeles City Council regulate commerce under the guise of protecting the environment. Not only is it affecting business in a negative way with its plastic-bag ban, but it is also imposing a fee on the consumer by mandating a charge on paper bags for them to complete their purchase. The only ones who will benefit economically from this ban will be the makers of reusable bags, many of which are located overseas in countries such as China.

Re "Slap a fee on carry-out bags," Editorial, April 30 In your editorial about plastic bags, you omitted discussing another way in which those bags are utilized. Those of us who are responsible dog owners use plastic bags to dispose of our pets' droppings, in accordance with local law. I, for one, find plastic grocery bags to be of convenient assistance in being a responsible citizen. Robert G. Brewer Sherman Oaks ALSO: Letters: A 'cranky' Gov. Brown Letters: Getting into and out of Israel Letters: Mexico's hypocrisy on border security

Los Angeles County supervisors backed off a threat Tuesday to ban plastic shopping and grocery bags that environmental experts call unsightly and destructive. Instead, officials chose the weakest of five alternatives recommended by county executives: a volunteer program that leaves it to supermarket and store owners to coax customers into packing their purchases in reusable containers. FOR THE RECORD: Plastic bags: An article in Wednesday's California section about a Los Angeles County initiative regarding plastic bags described the alternative that supervisors agreed upon, to impose a ban on the bags only if supermarkets do not meet specified benchmarks by 2013, as the weakest of five alternatives.

Re "Slap a fee on carry-out bags," Editorial, April 30 In your editorial about plastic bags, you omitted discussing another way in which those bags are utilized. Those of us who are responsible dog owners use plastic bags to dispose of our pets' droppings, in accordance with local law. I, for one, find plastic grocery bags to be of convenient assistance in being a responsible citizen. Robert G. Brewer Sherman Oaks ALSO: Letters: A 'cranky' Gov. Brown Letters: Getting into and out of Israel Letters: Mexico's hypocrisy on border security

It is no surprise that the organization representing makers of plastic grocery bags takes issue with your April 16 editorial urging the state to pass a new tax on bags. We simply believe that asking Sacramento to levy a draconian tax that amounts to about 1,250% of a plastic bag's value is out of line, and that all of us in California instead should focus on increasing plastic bag recycling. Plastic bag makers don't begrudge the rapid rise of reusable grocery bags and have no objection to encouraging their use. Now that nearly every major retailer sells inexpensive reusable bags (some even give them away)

The June 29 Blowback by Peter Grande of Command Packaging, a manufacturer of plastic bags, offered an articulate critique of the state's proposed ban on single-use plastic bags at certain stores. Unfortunately, the information he outlined did not provide a full examination of the facts. Earthwise Bag Co., headquartered in Los Angeles County, is one of the leading suppliers of reusable bags to major grocers and retailers throughout the United States. As a California employer, one of several reusable bag makers in the state and environmentally conscious residents of this state, we feel compelled to respond.

Every year, it seems, the California Legislature can't bring itself to pass meaningful legislation to reduce the number of plastic carryout bags in the state. On year, in fact, the Legislature bowed to the industry and instead of allowing a small fee on the bags, banned cities from imposing fees on them. That's too bad because, as the Times editorial board has pointed out numerous times, a small fee on the bags is the better way to go, as fees in such diverse places as Ireland and IKEA have shown.

The City Council on Wednesday will consider whether to ban stores in Los Angeles from offering single-use plastic carry-out bags. A ban would take some getting used to, but examples from other jurisdictions, including the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, show that it can be done and that shoppers and stores quickly adapt. A ban is the right move. The council should adopt it. For a city with such a strong environmental ethic, Los Angeles is lagging on the plastic bag issue.

Re "A deep divide at Malibu Lagoon," April 30 California's "restoration" of the Malibu Lagoon has turned a nature preserve into what one activist called a "manufactured wetland theme park. " Part of the reason for the restoration was to eliminate pollution ostensibly caused by human waste. However, a study by the U.S. Geological Survey found no evidence of such pollution. Rather, much of the pollution in the lagoon is caused by droppings deposited by the thousands of birds that hold conventions there each day. This will not change.

SACRAMENTO -- A drive to ban most stores from handing out single-use plastic bags got an important boost Monday when the California Grocers Assn. announced its support for a bill. The measure by state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) would prohibit the bags in grocery stores and pharmacies beginning on Jan. 1, 2015. Shoppers would be urged to bring their own reusable cloth or plastic bags or would have the option of paying the actual cost of a paper bag, estimated at 10 cents or less.

In the beginning, it was about losing a few pounds. Hans Svanoe, 64, would leave his house in Encino at 5:30 a.m. and walk for an hour before driving over the hill to Century City, where he works as a butler. A what? "A corporate executive butler," said Svanoe, who caters to the domestic needs of media mogul Haim Saban and his business partner, Adam Chesnoff, when they're at the office. Before that, the Norwegian-born Svanoe was a domestic for Milton Berle, who once responded to a Svanoe quip by saying: "I'll tell the jokes around here.

John Sohus suffered at least three potentially fatal blows to the head from a blunt object before his skull was wrapped and buried in two plastic bags bearing insignias of universities linked to murder defendant Christopher Gerhartsreiter, prosecution witnesses testified Wednesday. The 27-year-old victim's remains were discovered in 1994 in the backyard of a San Marino home where Gerhartsreiter -- then known as Christopher Chichester -- had previously lived in the guesthouse. After the discovery, crime scene investigators found four bloodstains on the floor of the guesthouse, said Lynne Herold, a criminalist for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Sixty cities including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Pasadena already have acted to ban single-use plastic bags at store checkout lines, and now a lawmaker says it is time for the rest of the state to follow suit.  State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) has introduced legislation that would prohibit large retail stores throughout California from providing single-use carryout bags to customers starting in 2015. Starting in July 2016, the ban would extend to convenience food stores, food marts and other smaller businesses under SB 405. Stores would be able to sell recycled paper bags, compostable bags or reusable bags to customers.

In JJ Peet's beguiling L.A. debut at Redling Fine Art, the familiar tropes of found object assemblage sculpture - scrap wood and bricks, rags and plastic shopping bags - come to life through a sheer infusion of raw creative energy. In both the sculptures and the film that accompanies them, a genuine visual curiosity, paired with a judiciously democratic embrace of materials, result in works of unusual fervor and formal acuity. Upon entering the darkened front gallery at Redling, one encounters a trio of sculptures suspended from the ceiling by long, rectangular aluminum tubes.

When the city of Los Angeles held off three years ago on banning single-use, carry-out plastic bags, it missed a chance to be at the forefront of environmentally responsible lawmaking in California. By the time it inexplicably delayed a vote again in December, close to 20 cities as well as Los Angeles County had prohibited stores from providing the bags. And since then, the bags have been banned in more than two dozen additional municipalities in the state. More important, in the last three years tens of millions of plastic carry-out bags - possibly hundreds of millions - have been distributed in Los Angeles.

Regarding the letter about newspaper delivery in plastic bags (Letters, Aug. 3.): If not for those bags protecting my newspaper and those of my neighbors, our papers would be soggy mush and unreadable from the automatic sprinklers that go on every morning before dawn. Since we have no control over the sprinkler system in our development, I thank you every day for those plastic bags. Please continue using them; otherwise this loyal subscriber for over 45 years would have to discontinue my subscription.

Along with giving thanks for making it to another Thanksgiving Day, The Times' editorial board is grateful that: The 2012 elections are finally over. And that after the June presidential primary, the November general election, this coming March's mayoral primary and the May runoff, we in Los Angeles will be able to go a year without an election. With the $4-billion sale of Lucasfilm to Walt Disney Co., the "Star Wars" franchise's future is secured and a seventh feature film is in the works.

It takes vision to see a Halloween mask in a thrown-away cereal box, or tea light candle holders constructed from jam jar lids. But if one man's trash is another's treasure, Danny Seo has a lot to work with. In "Upcycling Celebrations," a new use-what-you-have guide to decorating, gift-giving and entertaining, the self-described environmental lifestyle expert transforms junk into holiday gold for celebrations year round. We caught up with the 35-year-old author and TV personality to talk about the projects he outlines in his book.