Judge Considers Argument Against Plastic Bag Ban

According to a report in The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.), California Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch issue a ruling Thursday, April 17, 2008, placing an injunction on the plastic bag ban in Oakland, Calif., saying the city did not study the environmental impact of the ban sufficiently before passing the legislation.

The Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling sued Oakland in the summer of 2007 after the City Council approved the ban of single-use plastic bags at retailers doing more than $1 million per year in business, according to the report. The group alleged that single-use paper bags take more energy to create and use more landfill space than single-use plastic bags.

Roesch’s ruling reads: “The court…finds that substantial evidence in the record supports at least a fair argument that single-use paper bags are more damaging than single-use plastic bags.”

According to The Mercury News, City Attorney John Russo’s office will ask City Council members the week of April 21 whether they want to contest the ruling or do an environmental review of the ban, which could cost upwards of $100,000.

In response to Roesch’s ruling, Keith Christman, senior director of the American Chemistry Council’s plastics division released a statement that reads in part: “Banning plastic bags would dramatically increase energy use, double greenhouse gas emissions and increase waste. Recycling plastic bags is the right approach and makes plastic bags the environmentally responsible choice.”