Berkeley Plastic Bag Ban
On February 23rd, the proposed Berkeley Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance will be introduced at the City Council meeting as an “Action Item.” The City Council will vote on the proposed Ordinance in December of 2009 or January 2010.
Summary
The aim of the proposed Ordinance is to reduce the use of single use plastic checkout bags (plastic bags) and paper checkout bags (paper bags) in Berkeley, thereby reducing the number of them that are manufactured, and the number that are released to the natural environment or disposed of in landfill. The Ordinance would prohibit retail product stores from making plastic bags available at checkout stands, and would require them to charge a fee of 25 cents on each paper checkout bag, which would encourage shoppers to bring reusable bags. Paper checkout bags would be required to have minimum post consumer recycled content, which decreases the environmental impact of paper bag manufacturing. To read the language of proposed ordinance, click here.
Take Action
- Send an email message of support to Mayor Tom Bates, urging the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the proposed plastic bag ban ordinance.
- Sign the petition that is circulating at the Ecology Center and the Ecology Center’s Berkeley Farmers’ Markets.
- Join the cause on Facebook and spread the word to your network of friends.
Why the Ecology Center Supports the Berkeley Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance
- Disposable plastic bags are wasteful.
We humans use 1 million plastic bags every minute. Each year, 3.8 million plastic bags are used in the Bay Area alone. Why does California spend $25 million a year collecting these single-use bags and bringing them to landfills when the average plastic bag is used for a mere 12 minutes? Plastic litter collection from beaches, state highways, cities and counties costs the State of California $303.2 million each year. The recycling rates for plastic bags are extremely low—between 2 and 4%. - Plastic bags litter, pollute, and choke our waterways and oceans.
During the 25th Annual Shoreline Cleanup this year, volunteers collected 5,017 plastic bags from the shores of Albany, Berkeley, and Emeryville. Easily caught by the wind, countless plastic bags end up in the Bay. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a swirling mass off marine debris twice the size of Texas—is primarily made of plastic, including the broken-down byproducts of plastic bags. It has been estimated that 80% of the garbage comes from land-based sources. The UN Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. On land, plastic bags can clog gutters and drains, preventing rainwater from leaving the city through underground systems and causing flooding. In February 2009 the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board added Berkeley’s Codornices and Strawberry creeks to the Clean Water Act Section 303 (d) List of Impaired Waters. Because of the trash, both creeks scored “poor” in regards to litter harmful to wildlife. - Plastic bags harm wildlife.
In marine environments, plastic bags can entangle, suffocate, or cause blockage in digestive tracts in marine animals, including marine birds, turtles, seals and whales. According to the UN Environment Program, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. According to the Marine Conservation Society of the UK, it takes 450 -1000 years for plastic bags to break down. Plastic in the marine environment never fully degrades. The end product of the break down, "plastic dust," is ingested by filter feeding marine animals. The dust and the bio-toxins, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that the plastic dust accumulates, are passed up the food chain to fish and humans. - Other cities have successfully enacted plastic bag bans.
Many other California cities have successfully enacted plastic bag bans or are in the process of enacting them, including San Francisco, Fairfax, San Jose, Palo Alto, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Manhattan Beach. Portland, Seattle, Mexico City, and Mumbai have imposed plastic bag bans as well. Ireland imposed fees on plastic bags that have dramatically reduced their use by 94%. China, Tanzania, and Bangladesh have banned the use of plastic bags, although China continues to manufacture and export them to countries like the US. - The Berkeley Plastic Bag Ban will help us get closer to our Zero Waste goals.
