Opponents of a San Jose, Calif., bag ban are calling the city council’s passage of the new ordinance unwise and unworkable. Bag makers say the measure will raise grocery costs for city residents and hurt workers and small businesses.
The ordinance prohibits grocers and other retailers from providing customers with carryout plastic bags and requires stores to charge customers 10 cents for each paper bag they use for the first two years and 25 cents thereafter. None of the proceeds would go toward helping improve environmental quality, according to the opponents of the ban, as the retailers keep the money. Worse, the city would need to expend resources to administer and oversee the fee, which opponents say amounts to a tax on consumers .
“It’s unfortunate that the city council would take this approach, says Tim Shestek, senior director of state affairs for the American Chemistry Council (ACC), based in Washington, D.C. “Plastic bags are fully recyclable and instead of entertaining recycling partnerships and programs, the city council chose a policy that punishes consumers by raising grocery costs unnecessarily.”
The ACC says opponents maintain that the heavy-handed approach is unnecessary. California has a plastic bag recycling law already in place that requires stores to take back bags and product wraps for recycling. Further, a coalition of 14 California recyclers made clear to the city of San Jose that they want to buy the recovered plastic material, according to the ACC.
The association also says that it remains unclear if the approved ordinance complies with Proposition 26, the referendum that California voters passed November 2010. The statewide mandate reflects voter concerns that fees are essentially taxes and necessitates that they be treated as such, requiring higher standards for approval.