The Morgan Hill City Council offered enthusiastic support for an ordinance that regulates the use of single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam packaging in the city limits, but city staff have more studying to do before deciding the best route to limit the materials’ impact on the environment.
The city has considered such an ordinance for about two years, with options that include a ban on plastic bags and a 10 cent fee per paper bag similar to what the city of San Jose imposes on customers of grocery and retail stores.
Other cities that have enacted similar ordinances in recent months include Campbell, Mountain View, Los Gatos, Milpitas and unincorporated areas in Santa Clara County.
“We’re really just kicking off a study (to) go out and understand the best practices of what other communities have that work and don’t work,” Mayor Steve Tate said after the Council’s unanimous vote to continue studying the matter. “I’m totally open to anything right now.”
Opponents to any effort to eliminate the materials on a wholesale basis remain vocal in Morgan Hill, and was expressed at a public hearing Wednesday night before the City Council voted unanimously to direct city staff to research how an ordinance would work in Morgan Hill.
The specific components of a policy in Morgan Hill could vary widely, city staff said. For example, the city will have to determine if an ordinance should apply to grocery stores only, or include restaurants or retail stores.
When it comes to a potential ban on polystyrene or Styrofoam food packaging, the city is yet to determine what type of alternative packaging would be advised.
Javier Gonzalez of the California Restaurant Association urged the Council to exempt restaurants from an ordinance. Alternative materials are costlier than plastic and Styrofoam, he said, and customers who use reusable bags risk the transfer of food-borne bacteria that could cause illness that one might try to blame on the food vendor.
“There’s nothing better than having a clean new bag so food borne illnesses don’t germinate in the food,” Gonzalez said.
Morgan Hill resident Sherry Purser told the Council that they should consider banning certain types of reusable bags which are increasingly popular among grocery shoppers even in Morgan Hill, even without an ordinance.
One of the most popular kinds of reusable bags is made of polypropylene, Purser said. The material is not recyclable and not easily washable, Purser said.
“Bacteria and molds grow in here and can be transferred to food,” she said.
More than 19 billion single-use plastic bags are used in the California annually, and 20 million of those are used in Morgan Hill, according to Morgan Hill program administrator Anthony Eulo.
The Santa Clara County Association of Cities has been a strong advocate of banning or regulating the materials because of their impact on the environment and the inefficient use of resources to produce them.
Council member Rich Constantine said his focus is on the use of plastic bags at grocery stores only, and he supports banning their use, but not charging a per-bag fee at checkout.
“Most of the bags we see in landfills are from grocery stores,” Constantine said. “To me the cost of doing nothing is to our environment and the impact on it. With single-use bags and (Styrofoam), it is incumbent upon us to limit those things.”
