Dive Summary:

• Los Angeles City council has voted in favor of a city-wide ban against plastic shopping bags. The new law is set to take effect by 2014.
• The new law will outlaw “single-use” plastic bags for all retail stores within the city and will be phased-in beginning January 1, 2014 for large retail stores. Smaller stores will be expected to comply with the ordinance by June 2014.
• While nearly 2.3 billion single-use plastic and 400 million paper bags are used each year by Los Angeles consumers, the city estimates that only about 5% of plastic and 21% of paper single-use bags are recycled.

From the article:

The Los Angeles City Council voted 11-1 to adopt the ban, giving preliminary approval to the ordinance that will then return to the council for a second vote next week before going on to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is expected to sign it. … The ordinance also sets a 10-cent price on paper bags to encourage customers to bring their own re-usable bags.