Lawmakers to Charge for Plastic Bag Use  Plastic bags are so
common in our daily lives that we barely give them any notice.
Ubiquitous as they are, some California lawmakers believe the
bags are a menace and they want to make shoppers pay 25 cents
for each one they use to tote their goods home.  The California
Assembly recently passed a bill that would give retailers three
years to reduce their use of one-time shopping bags, both
plastic and paper, by 70 percent. Beginning in 2011, shops that
had not met and maintained the reduction requirement would then
charge shoppers a quarter per bag.  California already has the
only plastic bag recycling program in the country -- in which
retailers collect used bags in bins -- and some cities,
including San Francisco, Oakland and Malibu, have banned their
use outright.  China banned plastic bags in January and
Bangladesh has outlawed them since 2002, which might come as a
surprise, given that neither country is known for its
progressive environmental policies. Ireland h