Convenience vs. Environment

The letter “What’s the Harm?” missed the mark about Santa Barbara’s proposed plastic bag ordinance and perpetuates misinformation being put out by plastic bag industry lobby groups like “Save the Plastic Bag Coalition,” so I’d like to set the record straight.

The ordinance being carefully considered by the City of Santa Barbara would prohibit grocery stores, pharmacies, and food and liquor marts from distributing single-use plastic carryout bags and require them to impose a small fee on paper bags. This fee is not a tax because it will not go to City coffers but be retained by the stores to support their efforts to encourage reusable bag use. Trash bags sold at stores would not be affected, nor would plastic bags used for newspapers or for produce, fish and meat at grocery stores, so no one will have to toss raw meat and fish directly into their reusable bags. Regardless, reusable bags are of course washable, and people should wash them regularly.

The City indeed has the power to enact such an ordinance, and will be following the lead of 74 other California municipalities (and counting) in doing so. It would indeed be great if the State took action to address the problem, and there is a bill (SB 405) currently under consideration to do so. However, similar state bag bills have been defeated over and over thanks to intense and well-funded lobbying by the plastic bag industry, so it’s up to local municipalities to act if we are going to stop the pollution of our beaches, creeks, roadsides and oceans by plastic bags.