Mar 12 - Watsonville to Strengthen Bag Ordinance

On March 11, 2014, the City of Watsonville passed the first reading on amendments to its bag ordinance.

Ordinance 1284-12 was a bag ban passed by the city of Watsonville in September 2012. The ordinance prohibited the use of plastic bags and placed a 10 cent charge on paper bags, later increased to 25 cents. Implementation of the ban was smooth and compliance was very good, and observations of shopper showed that the number of people bringing their own reusable bags increased.

After the fee increased to 25 cents the number of people bringing reusable bags increased as well, jumping from 10%- 60%. Spurred by the success of the bans, the proposed amendment would change the definition of reusable plastic bags from being 2.25 mils thick to 4 mils thick. A mil is a thousandth of an inch, so the amendment would change the definition of reusable plastic bags to being 4 thousandths of an inch thick.

The second and final reading will take place on March 25, 2014 and will go into effect 30 days after that.

Click here to see Watsonville’s current bag ordinance.

Find out more information about the state bag ban SB 270 and how you can support it.