Plastic bags banned in San Luis Obispo County
Controversial ordinance applies to most retail stores and would take effect in October, but opponents are already threatening legal action
Bob Cuddy
San Luis Obispo Tribune
01/12/2012
After a four-hour hearing that capped months of debate, the county’s little-known waste management board voted Wednesday evening to ban plastic shopping bags at most stores in San Luis Obispo County.
Unless blocked by litigation, which has already been threatened, or a referendum, retailers will not be permitted to distribute plastic shopping bags at most supermarkets, pharmacies, convenience stores, warehouse stores or other shops.
Decision due on plastic bag ban San Luis Obispo County's waste management board will decide Wednesday whether to ban single-use plastic bags in most stores — a change that would affect the lives of just about everyone in the county who shops. Should the proposed ordinance go into effect, it would prohibit the bags at most supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience and big-box stores. It would allow retailers to charge 10 cents per paper bag. The hope, however, is that customers will substitute cloth bags when they go shopping. An education campaign to encourage a change in behavior has begun.
Countywide ban on plastic grocery bags to face final vote in January San Luis Obispo County’s waste management board Wednesday declined to kill a proposed ordinance that would ban single-use plastic bags.
Proposed plastic bag ban in SLO County gets unknown challenge Over the weekend, San Luis Obispo County residents received automated phone calls and emails asking them to oppose a controversial plastic bag ban that will be before the county’s waste management board for a vote Wednesday. The calls came from a group that identified itself as the Environmental Safety Alliance. But the identity of those behind the alliance has been elusive to recipients of the calls, and many proponents of the bag ban believe the alliance may be tied to the plastics industry, which stands to lose millions of dollars should bag bans be upheld. The Tribune on Monday tracked down two people involved with the calls. Both denied a connection with the plastics industry, but they were vague about exactly who is bankrolling the alliance.
Plastic grocery bags closer to being banned in SLO County Single-use plastic bags such as those found at most grocery stores will be prohibited at stores countywide, and retailers will begin charging at least 10 cents for paper bags next year, if the San Luis Obispo County waste board approves the plan in November. The county’s Integrated Waste Management Authority’s board of directors agreed Wednesday to craft an ordinance outlining the plan. Under the plan, retailers would be able to keep fees received for the paper bags to help offset their cost. 'Bag Monsters' at meeting on plastic bag ban The ordinance, set to take effect in October, allows retailers to distribute paper bags, but only if they charge customers 10 cents apiece.
Opponents of the ordinance immediately said they would challenge it in court. The Save the Plastic Bag Coalition said after the meeting that it would file a lawsuit within 30 days. The coalition served a “threat of litigation” to the board.
The ban was passed in an 8-5 vote by the San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority.
The waste authority board includes all five members of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, one representative from each of the seven local incorporated cities and one member representing local service districts.
The Wednesday hearing culminated a months-long intensive lobbying effort by advocates on both sides of the issue that drew unprecedented attention to the hitherto obscure board.
The hearing drew 80 speakers, of whom 55 supported the ordinance. Some speakers on both sides of the issue claimed they spoke for hundreds of others who could not attend.
Proponents of the ban argued that discarded plastic has become ubiquitous and does incalculable damage.
They said many marine mammals and seabirds die from plastic ingestion or entanglement from littered bags, and Wednesday some of the dozens of people who turned out to support the ordinance illustrated their assertions with slides showing suffering wildlife and polluted shorelines.
Environmentalists also alluded to a large floating body of discarded plastic and other debris in the Pacific Ocean between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii that they call the Great Garbage Patch.
Several speakers assailed the plastics industry, which has tens of millions of dollars invested in plastic bags and has been fighting similar ordinances around the country.
