Heal the Bay criticizes vote on new plastic bag measure
DOWNTOWN, L.A. Just one month after a day-long county-wide event that advertised the ills of using plastic bags, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted a voluntary program encouraging grocers to curb the use of the ecologically unfriendly bags.
It was a move lauded by the grocers association and criticized by the environmental sector that had been pushing for an outright ban on plastic bag usage in the county. Just last month, Heal the Bay sponsored the “Day Without a Plastic Bag” event to educate the public about the detrimental effects of plastic bags on the environment and the potential to suffocate marine life. Several businesses participated in the event, some handing out reusable cloth bags, others offering a discount for customers that opted out of using the plastic grocery bags.
The newly adopted “Single Use Bag Reduction and Recycling Program,” which is only enforceable in the unincorporated areas of the county, would create a road map to gradually decrease plastic bag usage in the county, establishing two sets of benchmarks for reduction that must be met in order to avoid an ordinance that would put into in effect an outright ban.
An original staff proposal recommended that the use of plastic bags at large supermarkets and retailers be reduced by 35 percent by 2010 and 70 percent by 2013 to curtail an ordinance from being adopted. The board, with initial resistance from supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina who reportedly didn’t want to see a water-downed version of the staff recommendation, approved an amended program that changes the benchmarks from 35 to 30 percent in 2010 and from 70 to 65 percent for 2013.
Both supervisors voted against the amendment initially because they felt it was a last-minute attempt by the grocery industry to weaken the measure, but eventually decided to support the plan, according to Joel Bellman, the spokesman for Yaroslavsky, whose district includes Santa Monica.
“Zev felt he had to support something and something was better than nothing,” Bellman said on Wednesday. “Coming this far to vote against it and possibly participate in the potential sinking of the entire thing over this last minute glitch was counterproductive and not an acceptable outcome after nine months of heavy lifting and negotiations back and forth.”
Heal the Bay officials criticized the measure immediately after the board’s vote, saying it doesn’t go far enough.
“The county’s history on being progressive on environmental issues is not really much of a history,” Mark Gold, the president of Heal the Bay, said on Wednesday. “The end vote was not a surprise, but we felt it was important to make ourselves be heard and let the Board of Supervisors know this is a critical issue that isn’t going away.”
According to Heal the Bay, approximately six million plastic bags are used in the county every year and approximately $25 million from the state coffers is spent annually on collecting and disposing plastic shopping bags.
Bellman said it isn’t conceivable to start with an outright ban in a county where the prohibition would only be effective in unincorporated areas.
“It’s not clear what would be achieved by starting off like that,” Bellman said. “(Yaroslavsky) would support a total ban if that were achievable.”
The California Grocers Association (CGA) praised the board’s action on Wednesday, saying it falls in line with actions the industry has been taking to deal with plastic bag usage.
“A number of elements in the ordinance are programs that the industry has already instituted or is in the process of instituting,” said Dave Heylen, spokesman for the association.
Heylen added that the CGA worked with San Francisco city officials in 2005 to create a voluntary recycling bag program. Last year, San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban plastic bags at chain grocery stores.
Residents in Santa Monica seemed generally supportive of a future ban on plastic bags, something that is being considered by local city officials.
“I think it’s best if it’ll help the environment,” said Warren Simon on Wednesday as he finished his grocery shopping at the Ralphs on Cloverfield Boulevard.
Barbara Illes, a Santa Monica resident, said she tries to use her reusable bags as often as possible, though she occasionally forgets to put the cloth bags back in her car in anticipation of the next trip.
Such was the case on Wednesday afternoon when Illes opted for plastic bags because she had inadvertently left the reusable bags at home.
“I think it would be a good idea to ban plastic bags because nothing can be done with them,” Illes said as she loaded the groceries into her car at Ralphs. “I would definitely like to see us move in that direction.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 24, 2008. Read the original PDF.