The Los Angeles City Council announced Tuesday it will forbid the public use of plastic bags from retail stores beginning July 1, 2010, subsequent to similar anti-pollution rules already implemented in San Francisco. 

In spite of the pleas from industry officials who claimed their manufactured items are recyclable and that advanced technologies could tackle the problem, the city council voted 13-0 to ban plastic bags. Its members also casted their vote to begin phasing out polystyrene items for consumption at all city facilities (Los Angeles International Airport is to be included) starting July 1, 2009. "If I had my way, we would do this today," Councilman Ed Reyes stated. "But we need to give people time to adjust, and we need to educate the public on this."

Legislators are discussing about a potential state regulation that would enforce a 15-cent fee per plastic bag at stores. However, the Los Angeles City Council would like the fee to be 25 cents per bag in order to discourage its employ.

The future law is already a cause of discontentment. Several packaging plant employees said the council overlooked the impact of possible redundancy and more than a few industry officials questioned about the effectiveness of the prohibition. The outlaw would most likely raise the quantity of litter in city landfills, expressed Michael Westerfield of Dart Container.

Bags made out of plastic are indeed recyclable, the officials admitted, but people are demanded to throw them in the suitable recycling bins. However, the council said it wants to take San Francisco as an example, one of the cities in which plastic bags are already banned.