The Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission
tabled its approval of a model ordinance that would allow cities to
charge a $.25 fee for single-use retail shopping bags at a public
hearing Wednesday.
The Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission tabled its approval of a model ordinance that would allow cities to charge a $.25 fee for single-use retail shopping bags at a public hearing Wednesday.
Zachary DeVine, spokesman for the county’s Agricultural and Environmental Management Department, said the commission will next consider the ordinance at its February meeting. About 40 people attended Wednesday’s meeting, where the commission was scheduled to consider approving a model disposal bag fee ordinance. Several members of the public spoke at the meeting, but DeVine declined to comment on whether their remarks indicated support or opposition.
The commission’s approval of a model ordinance would be the first step in enacting a bag fee in the county’s 16 cities. Now that approval won’t take place until February at the soonest, and a public version of the ordinance won’t be available until after the model is approved.
DeVine said as the current draft is written, the ordinance would allow cities in Santa Clara County to impose a fee of 25 cents for each “single use carry out bag” used by consumers at retail businesses such as grocery stores, liquor stores and department stores. The total amount of fees charged in a single purchase would cap out at $2, DeVine said. Yet charging customers for bags they need to carry their goods home in this economic climate seems inappropriate, according to Dan Rocca, 30-year owner of Rocca’s Market, 13335 Monterey Highway, in San Martin.
“There are people who need bags, especially the walkers, and there’s no other way to get their goods home,” Rocca said. “There’s all this talk about the burlap bags, but a lot of people in the Hispanic community don’t understand that. I mean, I have customers who bring back the same paper bags, and I don’t think (the county) should make me charge 25 cents for a bag when they cost a nickel. That’s a total rip off, and the state will end up making money off this.”
“The big chain stores will be able to afford this, but as for us little guys, we don’t have the resources,” he added.
Gilroy Councilman Bob Dillon agreed.
“This is a silly idea. My wife goes to Trader Joe’s and reuses the same bags, but as far as charging for it, I just think that’s silly. It’s a hidden tax,” Dillon said.
But DeVine said the intention is uniformity,
“The goal is to have a uniform ordinance,” he said. “If it’s approved (by the RWRC board), all 16 (municipal) jurisdictions could adopt all, some, or none of the ordinance, or they could choose not to enact any ordinance at all.”
If the county’s board of supervisors chooses to adopt the ordinance, it would apply only in unincorporated areas.
The proposed fee would not apply at restaurants, DeVine said. Amalia Chamorro, director of local government affairs for the California Restaurant Association, said the CRA had expressed their concern to the county that customers bringing bags from home to restaurants could result in food contamination and other safety issues.
“We were concerned that restaurants could be held liable,” said Chamorro.
Last year, the Gilroy City Council entertained the idea of banning plastic bags from grocery stores, but on July 20, 2007 the elected body scuttled this eco-friendly effort and instead decided to enforce an existing law requiring supermarkets to offer plastic bag recycling. Beginning July 1, 2007 the city’s large businesses had to comply with AB 2449, a state law requiring all stores larger than 10,000 square feet to provide recycling centers for customers to properly dispose of plastic bags.
Councilmen then also said that the public’s disconnect from curbside recycling rules and opportunities also threatens city streets with abandoned bags.
“I’m on the Gilroy City Council, and I didn’t know I could put plastic bags on the curb to recycle them,” said Dion Bracco, referring to residents’ ability to recycle their post-grocery balls of wrinkled plastic into long-lasting plastic two-by-fours, during the July 20, 2007 meeting.
“The city needs to make sure everybody in Gilroy knows that this is an option,” Bracco said. “One thing we can do is educate our citizens.”
Educational efforts notwithstanding, the use of plastic and papers bags have remained an issue with the county and its reduction is being targeted a different way. The purpose of Wednesday’s meeting is to provide information and open up public discussion. More details about the specific provisions of the fee, revenue projections and the expected level of waste reduction will be discussed, DeVine said.
Based on comments from area residents, such a fee would likely have the desired effect of promoting recycling and reducing waste. Shoppers in Gilroy said if the city enacts the model ordinance, they would reuse either the plastic bags they have now, or purchase reusable cloth bags available at some grocery stores.
“I’m going to start bringing my own bag then. With the price groceries are themselves, that’s too much,” Beverly Dillard, 54, said as she stood outside the highway shopping center along Travel Park Circle in south Gilroy. Dillard, a Palo Alto resident, works at an insurance company in Gilroy.
Monterey resident Tim Cronin, who was coming out of Togo’s in the same shopping center, agreed.
“I guess it’s a good idea,” said Cronin, 58. “People will start bringing their own bags. They’ll be selling a lot more of those cloth bags.”
The opinion was similarly resigned up north, where they would also need to consider whether to piggyback on the county’s tax.
A retired Morgan Hill resident who was shopping at Safeway, which sells reusable cloth bags, predicted more shoppers would reuse grocery bags if faced with a quarter-per-bag charge.
“I reuse my plastic and paper bags several times before I throw them out,” said Dwayne Sheets.
Local resident Barbara Smith, who works at a title company in San Jose, said “I would start using reusable bags, but I wouldn’t be happy about it.”
Staff writer Chris Bone contributed to this report.
