Trash costs Californians hundreds of millions in taxes every year

But strong lobbying from the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc has prevented Californians from being able to introduce a 2 cent tax on plastic bags. Much like the cigarette industry, these guys also obfuscate facts into making their products sound completely virtuous (its not the plastic bags at fault, it’s the way people use them is one of their favorite sayings). Yeesh! Get real. How about this: "Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation) spends $300 million a year on cleaning streets and installing catch basins along highways, while the city of Los Angeles will spend $400 million over the next decade on cleaning up the L.A. River," Murray said. "Trash has become a very expensive matter for our government agencies." They wanted just a 2 cent tax and these guys are helping kill that. A 15 cent tax in Ireland reduced plastic bag consumption by 90% in one year. The savings would be huge. That’s why I love the business I’m in. Every reusable cotton bags we sell www.badlani.com/bags/ helps avoid the use of as many as 500 plastic bags. U.S. consumers use 14 billion plastic bags annually, Murray said, which works out to 425 bags for every American.