Bill Would Ban Plastic Bags

A state law­maker is intro­duc­ing a bill to ban all single-use plas­tic bags in Cal­i­for­nia gro­cery stores. Under the bill, gro­cery stores could no longer pro­vide plas­tic bags to cus­tomers start­ing in 2015, but they could offer paper bags. The fol­low­ing sum­mer, only reusable plas­tic bags would be pro­vided. Assem­bly­man Marc Levine says the bill would be ben­e­fi­cial to marine life because plas­tic bags account for ten per­cent of ocean debris.