The city of Morgan Hill will soon stop using Styrofoam cups and plates at events it sponsors, but will wait to see how neighboring communities respond to recent and ongoing efforts to regulate plastic grocery bags before enacting a ban similar to that of San Jose.
The council made those decisions in two votes at Wednesday’s meeting, but some council members had a hard time separating the issues they say have can have a profound effect on the environment, consumers’ shopping habits and the operation of private businesses.
On a motion by councilwoman Marilyn Librers, the council voted unanimously to draft a city policy that states it will no longer use expanded polystyrene food containers – commonly known as Styrofoam – at city events and in city facilities.
City staff presented as an option the drafting of a new ordinance that prohibits private food vendors from using the materials for takeout and leftover containers, for example. However, council members determined they would rather let other cities who are considering this more restrictive approach to take the lead on the process.
Part of the reason to move slowly is financial, as the city is likely to see another tough budget year that might not allow staff time to be spent on adopting a lengthy ordinance, council members said.
“Some other agencies are going to adopt (a Styrofoam ban) and they’re going to learn a lot, and we can learn a lot from them,” Mayor Steve Tate said.
Styrofoam packaging is a “perfect waste product,” program administrator Anthony Eulo said at the council meeting. It is not biodegradable or compostable, it takes up large spaces despite being nearly weightless, and it easily breaks up into small pieces once discarded, making its cleanup more difficult than other kinds of waste.
While the material can be recycled, it is not economically efficient to do so, Eulo said.
Efforts to ban or at least limit the use of the material have recently gained momentum in other cities and counties in California. The Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission has spent the last year studying the issue and options to restrict Styrofoam’s use. The commission presented a series of options for the county and other cities to take that range from banning the packaging in city cafeterias to requiring private businesses to stop using Styrofoam.
A Styrofoam ban would undoubtedly require changes in business practices, but at least some downtown restaurant owners think it’s worth it if it can clean up the environment.
Art Nazzal, owner of Mr. Falafel, said he would have to find an alternate packaging material for some of his dishes, but it wouldn’t worry him too much.
“I want my kids, and my customers’ kids to live a long time. Whatever is better for the environment is going to be better for us,” Nazzal said.
Rosy’s at the Beach has consciously already begun a shift away from Styrofoam, though the restaurant’s takeout soup containers are still made of the packaging, according to owner Rosy Bergin. The restaurant no longer uses the standard three-compartment foam boxes for to-go entrees and leftovers, instead opting for a recycled cardboard material instead even though it’s slightly more expensive.
So Bergin doesn’t think an outright ban would affect her business that much. “It’s a change we could make,” she said.
Plastic ban bagged, for now
When it comes to reducing the use of plastic grocery and retail bags, residents and businesses are more adapted to the regional trends, which are further along than those to restrict Styrofoam.
The council voted 4-1 to continue monitoring those efforts, some of which are underway in other cities in the county, before ordering staff to prepare an ordinance.
Most notably, the city of San Jose banned the bags – referred to in technical parlance as “single-use retail” bags – starting Jan. 1 of this year. That ordinance also requires grocery stores and retail outlets to charge customers 10 cents per paper bag when available. The intent, which is supported by Morgan Hill officials, is to encourage the use of reusable bags that don’t litter the environment.
The San Jose policy is one of the efforts the council wants to keep an eye on, and perhaps adopt a similar ordinance in the future. City Manager Ed Tewes said city staff will return to the council periodically to update them on the results of those and any new efforts over the next few months.
Shoppers at Safeway in Morgan Hill Wednesday were amenable to the idea of bringing their own reusable bags to the store, and some already do. Mike Urbina, 51, brought his own paper bags, which he saved from a previous trip to Trader Joe’s. “They last for months,” he said.
He added that he has also shopped in San Jose since the ban went into effect, and forgot to bring his reusable bags with him, which was “frustrating.” But it’s a “step in the right direction” to cut down on pollution.
“I think the impact is negligible. There’s a lot of other good things they could be doing” to help the environment, he said.
Cathi Biaggi, 50 of Morgan Hill, said she is trying to get into the habit of reusing her reusable bags, which she brought into the store with her Wednesday. “Most of the time they’re in my car, and I forget to bring them in,” she laughed.
One council member – Rich Constantine – thought the city should move more quickly on ordinances to ban both plastic bags and Styrofoam. He voted against the motion to continue monitoring bag bans because he wanted to go ahead and initiate a similar process in Morgan Hill. Specifically, he thinks the city should ban plastic bags. But he thinks paper bags should be freely available, unlike in San Jose.
Paper bags are not as harmful to the environment as plastic, he said. Plus, allowing unrestricted use of paper bags could prevent shoppers from patronizing stores in neighboring communities, such as Gilroy, that are not even considering restricting plastic bags.
“People should either bring their own reusable bags to the store, or use paper bags,” Constantine said. “We know bags are bad for the environment. It takes petroleum (to produce them), and gas prices are going up. I don’t think we need to do anymore study. We need to start acting.”
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