El Cerrito Backs Ban on Plastic Carry-out Bags

El Cerrito became the fourth West Contra Costa County city to back a proposed regional ban on single-use carryout bags made of plastic or unrecycled paper Monday night, joining Richmond, Hercules and San Pablo.

The City Council action endorses a proposal by RecycleMore, also known as West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority, which is developing a model regional ordinance. RecycleMore supports recycling services for the supporting cities and Pinole, where a motion to support an anti-bag policy died for lack of a second.

The item was on the council consent calendar, by which the council normally passes several items at once without discussion, but Councilman Bill Jones pulled it out for separate action to call attention to it.

“The item tonight is approving the concept of the ordinance, not the ordinance itself,” he said. The council will be able to act on the ordinance after RecycleMore gets feedback from the supporting cities and proposes it.

Councilman Greg Lyman noted that “not all five cities have moved forward on this.” The issue attracted no public comment before passing unanimously.

City staff recommended the resolution to join in either a West Contra Costa County planning effort or one for the entire county.

RecycleMore has been developing a proposed ban on "single-use bags" for the past year, arguing that a regional ban would be more effective than various local bans.

El Cerrito's Environmental Quality Committee to recommend that El Cerrito join with neighboring cities in studying the feasibility of a ban.

San Francisco was the first city in the country to ban large supermarkets from supplying plastic bags in 2007, in favor of biodegradable bags. RecycleMore’s concept goes further, applying to all merchants and banning all single-use bags except those made from recycled paper.

RecycleMore is still working on details of the measure, which could be revised based on input from the cooperating cities. Broadly, it would encourage shoppers to use reusable bags and forbid retailers from giving customers plastic carry-out bags or paper bags, unless the paper bags are made of recycled material. An additional charge, possibly 10 cents per bag, would be added for those who accept recycled paper bags.

"The use of all single-use carryout bags (plastic, paper, compostable, biodegradable) has negative environmental impacts, including litter, harm to wildlife, and solid waste generation," according to the resolution adopted by the council. "Plastic bags are a significant source of marine debris and are hazardous to marine animals and birds, which often confuse single-use plastic carryout bags for a source of food resulting in injury and death to birds and marine animals."

The impetus for pursuing the ban got a boost from a in July that the City of Manhattan Beach was not required to undertake a costly environmental impact report before adopting a plastic-bag ban. That city had been sued by plastic bag manufacturers and distributors.

The staff report to the council on the measure from Environmental Services Manager Melanie Mintz and Environmental Analyst Garth Schultz outlined advantages and disadvantages of pursuing regional cooperation:

Among the benefits are:

• Consistent policy implementation across jurisdictions
• Economies of scale in the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) environmental review process
• The ability to engage in more cost-effective outreach
• Clearer rules for businesses and residents

The potential drawbacks include:

• Longer timeline of development and implementation due to more players and broader analysis
• Uncertain implications for CEQA environmental review, since the Manhattan Beach decision specifically referred to a single jurisdiction