City staff will start reaching out to the public later this month in Morgan Hill’s effort to reduce waste by restricting or banning plastic grocery bags and other food packaging material.
At 7 p.m. April 30 at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center, the City will host a community meeting on a potential ordinance that could ban restaurants and retailers from providing single-use plastic carryout bags and expanded polystyrene (commonly known as Styrofoam) food packaging.
Following that meeting will be a series of similar meetings to reach out to the businesses and restaurants who would be affected by any potential ordinance, and to the community as a whole, according to City staff.
Later this spring, outreach efforts will include an electronic survey about the topic to be distributed to residents and businesses throughout the city.
For about the last two years, the City Council has discussed an ordinance similar to that of other cities in the area, which would prohibit the use of single-use grocery or carryout bags. One option that has been discussed is an ordinance similar to one in San Jose that imposes a 10-cent fee per paper bag on customers of grocery and retail stores, and bans plastic bags. The effort is intended to cut down on pollution and litter.
City staff expect to present a report of the outreach findings and a recommended draft of an ordinance for the City Council to consider by July.
