Forget the plastic shopping bags in Edmonds, WA, a shoreline city about 15 miles north of Seattle. The city has voted to ban the bags, saying they hurt the environment and are easily replaced by reusable grocery bags. Edmonds becomes the the first city in Washington state to ban the bags, and estimates it could prevent about 8 million disposable bags from reaching landfills. San Francisco banned plastic bags in 2007, and a similar ban goes into effect in Los Angeles next year, writes Lynn Thompson in The Seattle Times. Meanwhile, Seattle residents will vote on a measure to impose a fee on paper and plastic bags on Aug. 18. Times columnist Danny Westneat today writes about one low income advocacy group's decision to oppose the measure.
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