As Plastic Bag Ban Approaches, LA Starts Handing Out Free Totes

Do they come with antibiotics?

With a plastic-bag ban set to go into effect in Los Angeles on the first of the new year, city officials are launching a campaign to get residents in the habit of using reusable totes.

The city has teamed up with environmental groups and nonprofit organizations that work with veterans and former gang members to produce a line of bags made from recycled or repurposed materials.

Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz, who led the push for the ban and who is now raising money to manufacture the totes, said the bags will be given away for free.

"Angelenos will be carrying these around for decades," he said Monday at a news conference announcing the initiative.