Out-of-State Plastic Companies Gave Nearly $1 Million in January to Fight Plastic Bag Ban

Out-of-state companies poured another $879,616 into their campaign to overturn California's statewide plastic bag ban in January 2016, according to new data from the California Secretary of State. Out-of-state companies now have contributed 98.8 percent of the donations for efforts to defeat the ban, which will be on the November 2016 ballot.

Hilex Poly, a South Carolina-based company, was the largest January contributor, donating $398,175 to the Alliance. Formosa Plastic Corporation, affiliated with the Taiwanese-based Formosa Plastics Group, was the second largest contributor in January, giving the Alliance $356,441. Advanced Polybag, a Texas-based company, was the third largest contributor, donating $125,000. 

In the past 15 months, the American Progressive Bag Alliance has received a total of $2,416,761 from Hilexpoly, $1,120,442 from Formosa Plastic Corporation, and $787,001 from Advanced Polybag. 

Contributions from California companies total just $62,000, and no California company has donated to the effort in the past 12 months. 

"Out-of-state plastic bag companies continue to pour money to overturn a law overwhelmingly supported by our state's citizens, our Legislature, and our Governor," said Mark Murray, Executive Director of Californians Against Waste. "It's outrageous that special interests from out of state are trying to hijack our state's democracy."

The statewide single-use plastic bag ban passed the legislature and was signed into law in 2014. 

However, out-of-state plastic companies spent more than $7 million fighting the ban and gathering signatures to qualify the law for a referendum on the November 2016 ballot. 

Since then, the number of city and county ordinances banning the plastic bags has swelled to 146, covering nearly 39 percent of all California voters. In cities and counties with local bag bans, reusable bag use has skyrocketed from 10 to 15 percent of shoppers using them to 45 to 50 percent while paper bag use has plummeted.