Encinitas and the Plastic Bag Ban: Part Deux

As we may recall, last month, Encinitas became the first city in San Diego County to move forward with a ban on disposable plastic bags. Thanks to the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce’s monthly circular, Encinitas First, I can keep you posted on the latest development in our environmental saga.

Jacy Bolden, City of Encinitas Environmental Advisory Committee Coordinator, sent out an e-mail on Wednesday evening, September 10th, after the City of Encinitas City Council, in a 3-2 vote; approved moving forward with a phased-in plastic bag ban with a fee on paper bags and additionally with an option of allowing a self-imposed fee on plastic bags. There was a specific directive that there be significant education that it be phased in slowly, for the committee to work with both residents and the business community — developing a ‘reasonable’ plan and timeframe.

Okay, Encinitas First, we mostly knew that before. Is anything new in the works in the near future?

The new EACC meets monthly, and the next meeting will be Thursday, October 23, at City Hall. The Encinitas Chamber respects the courage of the Council for taking leadership in this action and will monitor the progress of the committee monthly as the EACC considers different options. Already the suggestion that the City implement a plan that allows shoppers to use a plastic bag, pay a 25 cent fee at time of purchase that is refundable like the can and bottle program that the State of California currently runs might be acceptable to local business owners and help modify shopper behavior while not putting the entire responsibility for change on the local business owners and retailers. For more information, watch these pages; the Chair of the EACC, Alek Cannan, has agreed to write a monthly report that will follow the committee’s progress and report on their direction in the pages of our newsletter as the “ban” proceeds toward a public hearing and possible Council approval.

So, in short: nothing too much has changed. Yet. But stay tuned on the 23rd to see if a vote is taken on when to officially put the ban into effect — and, more importantly, how and how quickly it should be done. Interesting times in Encinitas, though, that’s for sure. We’ll keep you posted!

Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 11:53 am and is filed under The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.