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(FOX 11/CNS) - The L.A. City Council say it's the last straw...come April.
The city council voted 12-to-0, to ban all restaurants from automatically giving its customers plastic straws, starting April 22 on Earth Day.
Councilman Mitch O'Farrell is one of the proposal's backers, and said he wants Los Angeles to go further than a bill, recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, banning full-service restaurants from automatically giving customers plastic straws beginning Jan. 1.
The council's vote specifically directs the Bureau of Sanitation to report back regarding the feasibility of phasing out single-use plastic straws by 2021, and to work with the Department of Disability on methods and approaches to mitigate impacts to the disabled community associated with the phase-out.
"The two-year phase-out gives restaurants and bars the time they need to deplete their current inventory of plastic straws, and it gives the industry time to pioneer biodegradable and environmentally friendly
alternatives for mass consumption," O'Farrell said.
The motion for the straws-on-request ordinance cites a Los Angeles Times editorial which stated that Americans use -- and almost immediately discard -- up to a half-billion plastic beverage straws each day.