City Council to consider banning plastic bags
CITY HALL In the age-old question of “paper or plastic,” the answer could soon be much simpler.
The City Council tonight is expected to determine whether to draft an ordinance that would ban the free distribution of so-called single-use plastic bags from all retailers in Santa Monica.
“It’s the thin plastic bags that (people) can get at most grocery stores and fast food outlets,” Dean Kubani, the manager of the Environmental Programs Division at City Hall, said.
The plastic bags in the past few years have been contemptuously regarded as an environmental demon, ending up in the ocean and wreaking havoc on the eco-system. Several environmental groups have pushed for a ban on plastic bags, including Heal the Bay, which was one of the proponents in favor of a prohibition in Los Angeles County.
The Board of Supervisors last month adopted a voluntary program encouraging grocers in the unincorporated areas of the county to curb the use of ecologically unfriendly bags, a move that was criticized as not going far enough.
Californians go through an estimated 19 billion plastic bags every year, approximately 6 billion of which come from Los Angeles County alone, according to statistics by the California Integrated Waste Management Board. City Hall in 2005 conducted a survey of 25 local grocers and food markets and found they distribute a total of 23 million plastic bags each year.
In pushing for a ban in Santa Monica, city officials are following the lead of cities in the San Francisco Bay Area that banned the use of non-biodegradable bags from grocery stores, but would go a step further. The proposal in the city — considered to be one of the municipal leaders in the environmental movement — would be to ban all single-use plastic bags, including biodegradable, and mandate retailers to charge a fee on single-use paper bags in order to encourage their customers to switch to reusable. The city of San Francisco has its own municipal composting program to accommodate biodegradable plastic bags.
The paper bags fee was a recommendation by the Task Force on the Environment, Kubani said.
“The best way to address all environmental issues related to single-use bags, both in product of the bag and the distribution of the bag, is to get people to switch to reusable bags,” Kubani said. “The most effective way of doing that is a ban and fees.”
EPD staff is recommending the proposed ordinance include a hardship exemption for businesses that can demonstrate a significant economic impact to their operations, but Kubani noted that the impact should be proportional to the size of the business since smaller businesses distribute less than the major retailers.
Fred Okhovat, manager of Kings Liquor on Santa Monica Boulevard off Berkeley Street, seemed resistant to City Hall’s proposal, saying on Monday that it would impact liquor stores because many use plastic bags to support paper carry-out bags to make them sturdy enough to hold several bottles.
“It’s not a very good idea,” Okhovat said. “They should do recycling instead because banning is not a very great idea.”
Syed Hossain, the manager of Fair Market on Fourth Street off Pacific Street, said that while he would support a ban, city officials would need to find affordable alternatives for retailers.
“I would support the ban because of the environment,” Hossain said on Monday.
Paper on average costs about five times more than its plastic counterpart, which costs anywhere from 1 to 5 cents, as compared to 5 to 10 cents for paper, according to city staff. Biodegradable bags cost an estimated 10 to 21 cents while reusable cloth bags can run anywhere from 99 cents to $10.
In terms of the approximate annual usage per person, paper, plastic and biodegradable bags are even at about 500 to 600 bags, while reusable cloth bags range from two to four per person a year.
If the council decides to authorize the City Attorney’s Office to draft an ordinance and it is subsequently adopted by council later this year, the ban would not go into effect for about six months.
The ban will most likely be opposed by the California Grocers Association (CGA), a statewide trade association, which has been on the other end of the plastic bags issue.
“Our position has always been that we support the recycling of plastic bags,” Dave Heylen, a spokesman for the CGA, said.
The CGA was one of the supporters of AB 2449, a state bill — authored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine — that required certain retailers to establish an in-store recycling program allowing customers to return with their carryout bags. The law went into effect last year.
“That is the most effective way of dealing with this environmental issue,” Heylen said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 19, 2008. Read the original PDF.