Jan 4 - San Mateo County Agencies Discuss Regional Bag Ban
2012 is going to be another great year for bag bans.
In addition to the number of local governments with meetings and hearing dates on single-use bag ordinances already on their calendar (both Alameda County and San Luis Obispo County have final readings for their ordinances later this month), there are many others that are moving forward as well.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, several local agencies with the San Mateo County have discussed a regional approach to banning single-use bags within a working group formed by the County. They plan to review a draft ordinance on January 18.
It’s been revealed that the ordinance could closely model the City of San Jose’s ordinance, which bans plastic bags and places a 10 cent charge on paper bags (later increasing to 25 cents to further disincentivize single-use bag waste). The San Jose ordinance was the strongest of its kind when it was adopted in early 2011, and includes retail stores of all sizes. San Jose’s ordinance went into effect on January 1, 2012.
This coming year, CAW is looking forward to supporting and adding even more cities and counties to the list of local ordinances passed in California—which more than doubled in 2011 alone, currently totaling 16 ordinances.
See other local bag ordinances being proposed and support them by taking action.