UPDATED 2:15 p.m.: The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unamimously, 5-0, to approve a model ban on plastic bags by unincorporated areas of the county. The ban will go into effect April 22, 2013, giving businesses time to come up with plans to offer reusable bags.
“We’re going to devote time and energy over the coming months to reach out to consumers and businesses, educating them about the environmental benefits of the ordinance and giving them time to adjust,” said Board President Adrienne J. Tissier, who co-sponsored the ordinance with Supervisor Carole Groom.
The Environmental Impact Report the Board approved during the meeting indicates that 552 million plastic bags are used annually in the 24 cities and the unincorporated area of San Mateo County.
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Tuesday evening, San Mateo County will vote on whether to institute a model plastic bag ban. If it passes, 18 cities in San Mateo County and six more in Santa Clara County will have the opportunity to adopt the ban.
Vanessa Barrington, a public relations manager for Save the Bay, said the move is a monumental one.
"This type of cross-county regional effort over such a large geographic area is unprecedented," she said. "With the Bay Area’s two largest cities, San Francisco and San Jose, having the strongest bans in the nation, this measure could be a huge boon for the Bay."
Barrington said the push is led by the San Mateo County Department of Environmental Health, and that the measure enjoys the support of The California Grocers Association and many area businesses, municipalities and environmental groups.
Are plastic shopping bags polluting our bay?
According to members of Save the Bay, run-off pollution from local streets and neighborhoods - including plastic shopping bags, Styrofoam containers and other trash - is the single largest source of Bay pollution.
"Plastic bags and other trash kill wildlife, smother wetlands, and spoil water quality," reads a statement by Save the Bay sent out in advance of Tuesday night's vote. "Policies that encourage reusable shopping bags help clean up our communities and our Bay and save cities money."
In 2011, the City of San Jose passed a landmark ordinance that bans plastic bags and places a small charge on paper bags at all retailers, which went into effect in January of 2012. Other Santa Clara County cities, such as Sunnyvale, have since followed suit.
This year, San Francisco expanded its plastic bag ban to include all retailers - except restaurants, which will be subject to the ban soon - and to place a small charge on paper bags.
The City of South San Francisco adopted a "voluntary plastic bag ban" last year to encourage residents to use reusable bags more.
The average charge for a paper bag is 10 cents.
Currently, Save the Bay members say more than 50 percent of Bay Area residents live in communities that have banned plastic bags. Save The Bay works with cities and counties to enact policies such as bag bans and fees.
Supervisor Carole Groom told Patch she plans to support the model plastic bag ban Tuesday night.
"I'm really pleased by the way we brought industry groups and cities together to craft a regionally consistent set of regulations," Groom said. "We're well on our way toward eliminating a lot of litter from our environment."
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