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Los Angeles County's Plastic Bag Ban Takes Effect Friday

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Los Angeles County's ban on plastic bags, which is expected to be enforced in unincorporated areas, takes effect Friday.

It will first be phased in at grocery store chains, where shoppers now have to pay 10 cents for a recyclable paper bag unless they are paying with food stamps.

Food trucks and restaurants are exempt from the ban, which will be expanded to other stores in January.

Customers say remembering to bring their reusable bags isn't easy.

"I have 30 bags at home and I forget them every time I leave my house," shopper Joy Contreras tells CBS2's Kirk Hawkins.

The ban, approved last November, aims to reduce the number of plastic bags that end up in landfills by 50 percent.

Heal the Bay estimates the state spends $25 million each year to collect and dispose of the bags.

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