Eureka council to consider sending letter supporting plastic bag ban

Eureka is set to send a letter to the author of a bill that would close a loophole allowing grocery stores to sell thicker plastic bags after a ban approved by California voters in 2016. (Photo: Paul Rogers, Bay Area News Group)

On Tuesday, the Eureka City Council will consider sending a letter in support of state Senate Bill 1053. While California passed a law banning single-use plastic bags in grocery stores in 2014 and upheld by voters in 2016, a loophole allowed stores to continue operating. sell thicker, non-recyclable plastic bags to its customers.

The bill passed the state Senate last month in a 31-7 vote with two abstentions and would ban the use of plastic bags at grocery store checkouts and enact specific requirements for reusable bags.

Linda Wise, general manager of Recology in Samoa, said the thicker bags cannot be recycled locally because there is no market for them. She said the bags get tangled in machinery, become airborne and become lodged in stormwater systems very easily, causing blockages.

“We can start with single-use plastic bags. Personally, I would like to see all single-use plastic disappear,” she said, reached by telephone on Monday.

The City Council letter, signed by Mayor Kim Bergel, says, “After a decade under SB 270, it has become clear that California has not eliminated plastic grocery bags. The reusable bag standards have resulted in exempt bags that are simply made of thicker plastic. However, relatively few consumers reuse these exempt plastic bags when shopping.

Bergel writes that the city supports proactive, common-sense solutions to current environmental problems. The letter is part of the consent schedule, which is often approved without discussion unless a board member requests it.

While grocery stores were initially required to accept clean bags in stores for recycling, through the state’s plastic film collection program, that program expired in 2020, according to a Senate analysis.

The bill’s sponsors and environmental organizations pointed to an increase in plastic bag use in the state, tracked by CalRecycle, and widespread plastic pollution, including microplastics in the bags. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), co-author of the bill, said plastic grocery bags are “impossible to recycle in any facility in California” during a May 21 Senate hearing.

At the hearing, Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) said he would not support the bill because of the 10-cent bag fee paid at the grocery store. Others opposed to the bill are advocacy groups representing the plastic bag industry, such as the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance and the American Forest & Paper Association. The bill is supported by several environmental and progressive organizations as well as the California Grocers Association.

An identical bill, House Bill 2236, was passed in the Assembly on May 21.

Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504